We're pulling together resources and people from the USA, UK, AU (so far) and still looking for audio professionals in Europe or elsewhere that have experienced re-opening and can share what they are doing *as audio professionals* in dealing with a myriad of issues presented by a viral pandemic.
The consensus of our participants is that things do not look promising for a rapid return to the 'normal of 2019'.
I'm actually headed up to Emory University tomorrow to look at a research facility I consulted on for acoustics for their Mild Cognitive Impairment Empowerment Program -- from the call I had with them today, they're really digging in that social distancing is here to stay for the foreseeable future and want to take acoustical and sound considerations into their reopening plan. I'll be walking through the building with the architects and a few of their PhD students taking different acoustical measurements and we'll be looking at how they can adapt the listening and communications experience for their staff and the participants of their research study.
At first stab, we're discussing reducing noise masking levels in certain spaces, adding corrective EQ curves on sound systems and conference systems to counteract the dampening effect of people speaking while wearing masks, and possibly adding voice lift systems or swapping out absorptive ceiling tiles for reflective ones to improve speech intelligibility for group discussions in larger spaces. Speech intelligibility is taking a high priority now that everyone has to remain 6' away from each other while communicating through masks. In particular, this building is occupied by many people who have different degrees of cognitive impairment and may be elderly -- their hearing is not great as-is and masks are not making conversations any easier to conduct.
I've seen some of the live sound guys using a couple of these tricks already. Between masks and disposable socks getting put on mic's and swapped out between speakers, they're doing what they can to EQ it back to normal sounding voices.
Unfortunately in order to the do the testing I have to fly to Atlanta so I've prepared myself as best as possible for the pandemic airport experience.