In the 1950s, a man named Robert Baxter started installing microphones in walls in order to find termites in them.
After doing this for a while, he realized the potential benefit this same setup might have for security. He patented the technology and founded the first Sonitrol based on his invention.
Since then, Sonitrol has continued to use this technology to outperform the competition in the industry. While most electronic security companies rely on equipment like motion sensors for basic, intrusion detection, Sonitrol relies heavily on audio verification.
In this post, we’d like to offer some of the advantages audio verification has over simple motion detectors. As you’ll see, this is one comparison that almost always leans in favor of audio.
[Click the image above (or here) for examples of Sonitrol’s break-in audio files.]
1. Audio verification is verified, not just detected.
With audio verification, the people monitoring your alarms can tell fairly certainly when someone is breaking into your facilities. With a motion detector, the motion could be anything. A cat, a bird, a leaf, a thief – each of these sets off an alarm the same way. You could even add your own employees to that list.
Verified audio sensors help you avoid false alarm fees while also keeping your credibility with law enforcement. This by itself is enough reason to switch to audio over motion detectors.
2. Audio verification covers more area.
A motion detector covers a field of view. If something happens just around a corner or otherwise just out of sight for the motion detector, then the motion detector won’t pick it up.
Audio allows more fluid, dynamic coverage. It can pick up sounds from anywhere in a room, not just what’s right in front of it.
3. Audio verification can detect an intruder before a break in.
Audio verification doesn’t work based on doors opening or someone crawling threw a window. Audio verification works based on what it hears.
This means that while a potential criminal is still fussing with the lock, an audio sensor might alert a monitor, meaning the police response time would start from before the incident instead of after.
4. Audio verification can help police during a break in.
In addition to helping before a break in, verified audio sensors continue to help after a break in as well. Monitors can hear what’s going on in the facility and relay this information back to the police.
Are the thieves hurrying to escape? Are they preparing to hide? Are they loading weapons? This is all vital information for law enforcement officers responding to the incident.
5. Audio verification can help investigators after a break in.
Finally, audio verification simply provides more information than a simple motion detector. Motion detectors offer a binary signal: motion or not. Audio verification systems give us a trail to follow. The trail could help find how the intruders entered, what they were after, or what decisions they made while inside the building.
All in all, audio verification offers a number of advantages over motion sensors alone. Unlike other differences in equipment, say between cameras and audio verification, verified audio sensors almost always win out over motion sensors. The only exception might be when it comes to price, but even then, no security at all is always the cheapest option if that’s the biggest concern.
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