Lifeline - 2-Way Audio

Enabling two-way audio to hear and speak into your rooms with Lifeline

Written By Daniel Gleaves

Last updated 4 months ago

You can further enhance your escape room management with our Lifeline feature, designed to provide seamless, high-quality audio communication directly through Drawbridge. Lifeline allows you to listen and speak into the room, creating a more interactive experience for game masters and participants.

Important Note:
In order to use Lifeline, you must use your location-specific domain name to access Drawbridge, not your IP address. i.e. <location_name>.drawbridgeai.app

Easy Setup and Use

Effortless Listening and Speaking:

Ear Icon: You’ll find an ear icon below where all the game cameras are. Click it to start listening.
Microphone Icon: When the ear icon has been pressed, a microphone icon appears next to a red ear. Press and hold the microphone to speak directly into the room.
Hang Up Icon: When the ear icon has been pressed, a red ear with a slash through it appears. Press this to stop listening to the room.

Top-of-the-line Equipment

To enable Lifeline, you’ll need the GSC3516 speaker from GrandStream Networks. This speaker ensures crystal-clear audio, making communication flawless.

Installation: Mounts easily onto a ceiling tile.
Connection: Only requires an Ethernet connection (RJ45).
Power: As a Power over Ethernet (PoE) device it needs either a PoE-supported switch or a PoE injector

Compatibility and Requirements

Audio Devices: Use any USB speakers and microphone or supported headphones. This is one model of microphone we’ve had success with.
Browser Permissions: Be sure to grant browser access to these devices when prompted for an uninterrupted experience.

Benefits of Lifeline

Faster Understanding: Quickly grasp where groups are in the game by listening to them speak, allowing for more efficient game mastering, faster hints, and more timely nudge responses.
Voice Communication: Speak directly to participants to calm anxious groups or have a two-way dialogue to help them get back on track when text clues are proving difficult for them to apply.

Lifeline Setup

Follow along with the video and written instructions below to configure your GrandStream speakers for Lifeline.

Written Guide

Everything in this guide can also be found in the video above.

1. Speaker Configuration

Each GrandStream speaker will need to be set up the same way. Please follow this guide to set up your speakers.

Plug in your speaker to a network switch with POE capability
Navigate to https://gsc_<mac>.local where <mac> is the MAC address on the back of the speaker
1. EX: if your speaker has the MAC address: C0:A7:14:E3:20:B2, you will navigate to https://gsc_c0a714e320b2.local
You'll be prompted to login to the speaker using the username: admin, and the password found on the back of the speaker
***** Change Admin Password *****
1. Go to System Settings > Security Settings
2. Enter the current admin password
3. Enter a new admin password that is easier to remember. Save somewhere secure and accessible and forward to us as needed
4. Click save and apply
Once logged in:
1. Click the Accounts tab
2. Click Accounts
Under General Settings:
1. Check Account Active
2. SIP Server = IP of Drawbridge machine
3. SIP User ID = Assigned by you, Recommended: three-digit number, do not use 301
4. SIP Authentication ID = Same as SIP User ID (each speaker must be different)
5. SIP Authentication Password = valcoms
6. Everything else can be default
7. Click Save
Under Call Settings:
1. Uncheck Play Warning Tone for Auto Answer Intercom
Under Advanced Settings:
1. Be sure everything is unchecked
2. Click Save
Click the Calls tab
In the Greylist tab:
1. Greylist Calls = Auto Answer
2. Click Save
Click the Phone Settings tab
Click Call Settings:
1. Uncheck “Enable Call Waiting”
2. Uncheck “Enable Call Waiting Tone”
3. Automatic Answer Ringing Time (s) = 0
4. Click Save
Click the Network Settings tab
Click Ethernet Settings:
1. Internet Protocol = IPv4 Only
2. Uncheck Different Networks for Data and VoIP calls
3. IPv4 Address Type = Static
4. IPv4 Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway will be assigned by you, according to your network configuration
5. Click Save
Near the top right corner of the menu, click Apply
Repeat steps 1-14 for each speaker
Your speakers should be fully configured

2. FreePBX Configuration

Once each speaker has been configured, you'll need to add each to FreePBX

Navigate to <DrawbridgeIP>:3002
Login with username: admin, password: admin
Click on Settings at the top
1. Change HTTP Bind Address to 0.0.0.0
In the top left, hover over the Applications Tab
1. Click Extensions
Click Add Extension
1. Click add new SIP [chan_pjsip] Extension
In the General Tab
1. User Extension = SIP User ID from Part 1, do not use 301
2. Secret = valcoms
3. User Password = valcoms
4. Click Save
Repeat 6 for each of your speakers
Create one more extension
1. User extension = 301
2. Secret = valcoms
3. Click the Advanced Tab
  1. Enable AVPF = Yes
  2. Enable ICE Support = Yes
  3. Enable rtcp Mux = Yes
  4. Media Encryption = DTLS-SRTP
  5. Allow Non-Encrypted Media (Opportunistic SRTP) = Yes
4. This is the Drawbridge Extension, allowing you to listen in to the rooms

3. Adding Speakers to Drawbridge

The speakers can now be added to Drawbridge.

Go to Settings
Click the game you want to add a speaker to
Click the Speakers Tab
1. Click Add New Speaker
2. Name the speaker and add the Extension number from Part 2
3. Click Save
Navigate to the Gamemaster page for the game you added the speaker to
In the Player Toolbar, between Custom Hint and Alert Hosts, you should now see the name of the speaker and an ear
Click the ear to list into the room
1. The speaker is now marked as busy, only one gamemaster station is able to listen into a room at a time
2. Click and hold the microphone with a slash to begin speaking into the room, release to stop talking into the room
3. Click the red ear with a slash to stop listening to the room
Repeat step 4 for every speaker