Selecting the gain for radio microphone (FM) systems: theoretical considerations and practical limitations

This paper provides theoretical estimates of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio advantage that can be gained from a radio microphone (FM) system used with an environmental (EV) microphone, compared with the S/N ratio delivered by a conventional hearing aid alone. These estimates show that the S/N advantage gained is a function of the speaker/listener distance and the FM/EV gain difference, the greater the distance and the closer the FM gain is to the EV gain, the greater the S/N advantage. The implications for choice of FM and EV gain when fitting FM systems are discussed. The two goals of equating the FM and EV outputs and maximizing the S/N ratio are mutually incompatible. It is concluded that the FM gain should be set to be 10dB less than the EV gain unless the situation can be closely monitored, in which case the FM gain should be set as high as possible consistent with loudness tolerance and acceptable levels of distortion.