Ideal parameters to shoot for for good teletherapy audio

[aaltmanpdx]

Hi. As I just mentioned in my introductory thread, I'm an electronics hobbyist. I'm also starting a new career as a therapist, and will be working primarily via telehealth. I'm working on a nice home office setup both for my own comfort, my sense of pride and enjoyment, and hopefully to help clients with their own sense of the reliability, comfort and familiarity of the experience. What experience can you offer on what factors would matter in that space?

The platform I'm working with right now is Simple Practice. They barely publish anything about the technical details of their platform, but as far as I can tell it uses Twilio for the video chat portion. - some combination of iSAC, OPUS, PCMU, PCMA or G.722 audio codecs, depending on browser.

I am working on perfecting my room and mic setup. Room RT60 is around 0.3 across the audio band. I am also in the process of building some broadband absorbers just in case, even though just based on the numbers that doesn't seem to be needed.

Current mic that seems to work pretty well is an EV ND457A. My girlfriend also has a Rode NT1A that is notably awesome for noise response but that makes my voice sound oddly nasal. I'm interested in trying other condenser mic setups. Ideas? DIY is cool but I'm not in a cost-no-object situation. What should I try?

Other stuff I've got to contend with: it's a basement room, finished, but with some duct work nearby and the central heating adjacent to it. HVAC noise is noticeable and when recording seems to show up as a pretty strong bump around 100Hz. I suspect there's probably a lot I could do with better sealing around the door, but other ideas would be welcome.

 

[user 37518]

What are you looking for? I have no idea about what teletherapy is or what is considered "good teletherapy"; is that like giving therapy via Zoom or something like that? In such case, I would guess that having acoustics that do not sound like a bathroom, and a mic that sounds clear, not boomy. I don't know what else is required in order for a successful teletherapy. Maybe you can tell us more about what your therapy sessions consist of.

 

[cyrano]

That list of codecs looks weird.

iSAC isn't about audio. It's about safety. Like in data security, fire safety...

PCMU & PCMA are commonly known as G.711. Just like G.722, These are old voice codecs. SR is 16 kHz. So your audio bandwidth is less than 8 kHz.

Why bother with a condenser mic?

 

[abbey road d enfer]

It looks like the platform uses a low-definition audio protocol, so the choice of mic is guided mainly by how good it sounds with the OP's voice.
Regarding HVAC noise, there are software solutions, that use a sample of the noise and substracts it to the broadcast signal.
I believe Autotune and Melodyne have this possibility in real-time.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I edited the URL (link) out of your first post before I allowed it because it looked suspicious.
====
If you think the free advice you are getting is hostile you may need to adjust your expectations.

We have general rules mandating civility but I (we) do not see any rule breaking yet.

Good luck

JR

 

[sodderboy]

I would think a quality lavalier from Sweetwater would allow you to move around and not be like a podcaster, coupled with a simple 4 ch mixer accomodate music or other audio cues as well. The highly visible mic is really a radio thang and it gives non-radio people visual cred as they relay a message "the professional broadcaster".
You have to start with your mise en scene- how do you want to be seen and heard, which in a traditional therapy setting does not have the therapist as broadcaster visually or audibly.
Mike