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PREPARED BY:
DHARSHINI D/O KRISHNAN
MORTHY

UTILIZATION OF AUDIO MEDIA

FOR THE TEACHING AND
LEARNING PROCESSES

Audio - a range of sound waves that can be heard by

human ears.
Helps students who are poor in their reading skills to
get an overview without reading the lengthy text.
EG : The narrative element such as storytelling,
reviews and dialogue between characters makes the
presentation more lively and interesting.
The appropriate use of background music and sound
effects makes a scenario appear more realistic.
Besides placing emphasis on certain idea and
concepts, it is able to create certain mood, arouse
emotion, and challenges of the students imagination.

Appropriate use of audio media enable to train the students to

build good listening skills, to speak fluently and communicate
effectively.
Active listening is an essential skill which enables the students to
understand the message and develop mutual understanding
between the sender and the receivers. This may result in
effective behavioral change and lead to team building (Rogers &
Farson, 1987).
Active listening involves the following habitual behavior:
- Paying attention to the speaker or the teacher, including the
verbal and non-verbal language.
- Actively participate in the communication by giving appropriate
responses.
- Delay making any judgment before the speaker had finished
telling his story.
Good listening skills bring about effective communication where
by the students will be able to understand the verbal massage as
well as the intention and emotion behind it.

TYPES OF AUDIO
EQUIPMENT
There are several categories of audio equipment based on their
respective function:
Audio recording equipment.
Output devices which enable us to listen to play back of the audio
production.
Storage devices which keep the audio production in the reusable
format.
Equipment or software which enables us to do audio editing.

Basically, we classify the audio media into two formats,

the analogue
digital formats.
There is different equipment involved when we intend to record, edit
and to store the different audio file formats.

EQUIPMENT FOR AUDIO

RECORDING
o We may use the audio cassettes and audio tape recorder to
record analog sound, or using the computer, MP3 recorder,
iPod, mobile phones, and digital camera to record the
digital audio. All of the above devices need a microphone to
input the audio signal into the audio recorder.
o Example
audio recordingTypes
devices.
Audio of
Format
of recorder required
Analogue

Magnetic tape recorder

Cassette recorder

Digital

computer
Digital voice recorder iPod
MP3 recorder
iPod
Mobile phone
Multifunctional digital camera

 MICROPHONES
TYPES OF MICROPHONES ACCORDING TO ITS USE.

It is normally used for the video camera.

Shotgun
It is attached to the body or on clothing.
Lavaliere
Ideal for studio recording and on stage
performance whereby the artists need to
Headset

move about frequently form place to place.

It enables the speaker to move freely in a

Wireless

wider area.

 LOUDSPEAKERS
The loud speaker (speaker) enables the audience
to hear sound playback by the audio recorder.
There are three types of drivers in a speaker
system:
Tweeter > The driver which produces the high
frequency sound in the stereo speaker system. It is the
smallest in size.
Midrange > It reproduces sound in the middle
frequency.
Woofer > It reproduces sound in low frequency (bass).
It is the biggest driver in the system.

AUDIO MIXER AND AUDIO

EDITOR
The audio mixer helps to depict the scenario
and creates the mood for a story, drama,
explanation, etc.
For the analogue sound format, the audio
mixer combines and controls the output of
various audio signals in order to achieve the
desirable sound effects.
Whereas in the case of digital audio, the editor
and mixer is the computer application software
which is able to remix and edit the sound file
according to ones need and preferences.

AUDIO FILE STORAGE

The sound file may be saved and
edited repeatedly when need arises.
The storage devices for analogue audio
format are mainly the magnetic tape
and the audio cassettes.
The digital audio files may be saved in
the computer hardware such as the
hard discs, audio discs, memory card,
optical discs like the CDs and DVDs.

PLANNING AND THE PREPARATION OF AUDIO

MEDIA

If you failed to plan, you have

planned to fail!
The planning and preparation stage
is the key to successful audio
production, especially if you aim at
conveying the educational messages
via the audio media.

The planning and preparation phase involves:

Identify the objectives and learning outcomes
By referring to syllabus and standards, we can
identify the objectives and standards, scopes of the
contents, the types of learning activities, and values
which should be included in the audio presentation.

Analyze the learners (or the target audience)

Bear in mind what could be the prior
knowledge, ability and preferences of the target
audience before we can identify the appropriate
approach, style, the scope, examples and
elaboration which may effectively capture the
students attention, arouse their interest and
convey the essential massage successfully.

 Obtain the information (The topic, skills, content)and

the relevant resources (sound effects, background
music, CDs, etc.)
Preparing the script
Clearly define the sequencing of the content, the
relevant sound effects for a particular scenario, when
and how the background music should come in, when to
pause, phrases which needed emphasis and alike.
The script is a guide for the producer, the talents as well
as the production crews. It helps the team to visualize
how to act out a scene, to pin point the appropriate time
to dub in the background music and/ or the sound
effects and so on and so forth.

RECORDING AND AUDIO

EDITING
The procedures for audio recording include:
Prior to the actual recording session, make sure that all of
the equipment is in good condition.
Find a place which is free from unwanted noise, preferably a
sound studio.
During the actual audio recording session, ensure that all the
sound level of the microphone input and speaker output are
set to the optimum level, which neither too loud nor too soft.
It is advisable to record the narration without the sound
effects and the background music so as to save the audio
editing and remixing in later stage from complication.
Play back the recording to identify any segment that needs
second take, etc.

AUDIO EDITING
The digital audio file may be recorded and saved in various
format. It may be edited and play back using audio editing
software. Example of the commonly used editing softwares
includes Windows Sound Recorder, Soundforge, and Audacity.

You may need to find out the meaning of certain technical

terms related to audio editing such as fade in, fade out,
cross-fading, amplify, silence, echo, change pitch,
change tempo, etc.
It will be helpful to have a glimpse of the so that we may be
able to identify the appropriate play back application
program and equipment.

AUDIO FILE
FORMAT
File

Digital audio format

Its characteristics

extension
The standard audio format for computers which use the

Waveform Audio File

Format

.wav

Windows operation system. It is uncompressed; hence its

file size is relatively large.
The most popular audio format for downloading and saving

MPEG Layer-3format

.mp3

audio files for Internet.

It is a list of musical notes acts as the standard commands
that allows the electronic musical instrument, performance

Musical Instrument Digital

Interface

controllers, computers and related devices to communicate,

.mid

and to play back the sound, very much like the human
reading the music sheet.

Audio Interchange File

Format

Audio file format which is normally used for Apple

.AIFF

Macintosh.

CONCLUSION
The audio media production for the teaching and
learning processes involves planning and
preparation prior to the actual audio recording. This
is to ensure that the audio media contains the
necessary information which leads to the attainment
of the learning outcomes. Knowledge about the type
of audio recording and editing equipment adhere to
the principles of effective audio production helps to
generate an effective audio media that delivers its
massage precisely and accurately. It in turns helps
the students to get a clear overview of the topic and
arouse their interest to do further literature review.