A new microphone system allows broadcasters to zoom in on sounds as well as sights, to pick out a single conversation.

Physicists Morgan Kjølerbakken and Vibeke Jahr, formerly at the University of Oslo, Norway, have developed the AudioScope. The device is made up of around 300 microphones arranged in a fixed circular array above the sports ground. They are used in conjunction with a wide-angle camera that can zoom in to any position on the pitch.

The AudioScope software then calculates the time it would take for sound emanating from that point to reach each microphone in the circular array, and digitally corrects each audio feed to synchronize them with that spot.