Shure Wireless Microphones enable Hybrid Lectures in the Auditorium at the University of Lucerne

Key Takeaways

• The University of Lucerne upgraded its largest auditorium to support hybrid lectures and remote participation.
• The university required a reliable, high-quality audio solution that was easy to operate across a large teaching space.  
• Shure MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphones enabled consistent voice capture for lectures, discussions, and hybrid learning formats.
• The system supports integration with video conferencing platforms, allowing remote students to follow lectures in real time.  
• Features such as voice lift ensure clear audibility throughout the auditorium, improving the experience for both in-room and remote participants.  

About The University of Lucerne

The history of the University of Lucerne dates back to about 1600 AD; it evolved from the Jesuit college in Lucerne. Today, 3200 students and 82 professors study and teach at the university's four faculties – the Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Law, and Faculty of Economics and Management.  

Over the years, the university has continuously adopted new technologies. For example, various Shure products have been used for teaching since 2011. The university was also one of the first to invest in high-quality conferencing products from the Shure Microflex Advance series. Last year, it upgraded its auditorium.

The Challenge: Enabling Hybrid Lectures in a Large Auditorium

In order to enable remote participation in its lectures in the future, the university first needed to find a solution for its largest auditorium. This 250-seat room is used for a wide variety of teaching formats by the faculty. The goal was to complement the existing Shure systems to enable hybrid and digital lectures in the future. For this purpose, the university required a reliable, high-quality conferencing system that is intuitive to operate. Moreover, it planned to equip its podcasting rooms, as well.

The project was carried out by the university's Department of Facility Management in cooperation with Rebsamen Technics AG from Horw, Switzerland.

The Solution: Deploying Ceiling Array Microphones for Flexible Lecture Capture

The planning stage began with various audio tests carried out by the University of Lucerne and Rebsamen Technics in cooperation with Shure in 2017. After the team was satisfied with the quality of the results, the decision was made to implement two Shure MXA910 microphones. These two ceiling array microphones form the central element of the new solution. The new conferencing system ensures that voices are perfectly captured in the auditorium. The audio signal can be fed to digital video conferencing codecs for hybrid lectures. 

Thanks to four loudspeakers, “voice lift” can be activated when required. This ensures the lecturer can be heard equally loudly and clearly at any location in the room. Every usage scenario, from lectures to group discussions among students, is captured by the MXA910 microphones and participants at home can follow the events remotely. 

In addition, lecturers can use a variety of handheld and bodypack transmitters in combination with the Shure QLX-D Digital Wireless System in specific rooms, when recording podcasts for instance.

The Results: Clear Audio for Hybrid Teaching and Flexible Participation

The auditorium of the university was equipped with a fully integrated, complex audio solution that is as easy to use as possible.

The biggest benefit of these rooms to the university is that external lecturers can easily use the system, even without prior experience 

Walti Weingartner, Project Leader, Rebsamen Technics AG

The audio signal is captured fully automatically in the room and can be shared with external participants, e.g. via Zoom. Another benefit was that the existing Shure products are compatible with the new solution and therefore easy to integrate.

“It's important for us that these systems are intuitive to use, so we get the quality we need ultimately”, says Patrick Meier, Head of Facility Management at University of Lucerne.

The project was notable for the extremely good collaboration between all parties and Shure's extensive experience in working with universities.

Explore how Shure conferencing solutions support clear, reliable communication across hybrid learning and collaboration environments.

Published Feb 15, 2023. Updated June 22, 2026