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press release

July 8, 2019

Audio Spotlight Technology Beams Focused Narratives in a Unique Exhibit at the Williams College Museum of Art

 
 

Ceiling mounted Audio Spotlight speakers provide directional sound at the WCMA exhibit

Visitors to a recent exhibit at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) were immersed in a multi-sensory experience as they viewed a collection of artifacts, journals, and other historical items that were described by narratives beamed from Audio Spotlight directional speakers. At the exhibit entitled "The Field is The World: Williams, Hawai'i, and Material Histories in the Making", Audio Spotlight technology was used to meet the challenge of playing audio describing individual exhibits that were in very close proximity to each other without creating any sound bleed from one display to the next.

The museum curators installed several ceiling-mounted AS-16i directional sound speakers that played a variety of interviews and historical accounts describing the collection that made up the exhibit. Inside each Audio Spotlight speaker, microSD cards stored exhibit audio, eliminating the need for external playback devices or unnecessary additional wiring, while motion sensor triggers embedded in each unit activated playback automatically, based on a patron's entry into the area where the beam of sound was focused.

A 19th Century Hawaiian ankle ornament
made from dog teeth

The audio narratives described the exhibit, which was based on a cache of objects that were discovered in a box in the basement of a dormitory at Williams College in 1986. Inside the box were dozens of objects, including garments and weapons that were obtained from the Kingdom of Hawai'i in the 19th Century for the Williams College Lyceum of Natural History.

Audio Spotlight technology provided a perfect fit to tell the stories of the Hawaiian artifacts without creating sound bleed from one display to the next. Individual AS-16i speakers at each display produced narrow beams of sound to describe items that included an ankle ornament worn by tribespeople that was made of dog teeth, images of Hawaiian hula dancers, and a portrait of King Kalakauna, the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

For its use in museums like the Williams College Museum of Art or other similar settings and applications, the flexible and self-powered Audio Spotlight directional speaker is a powerful tool, ensuring that any exhibit has its own isolated audio, captivating visitors with an immersive, personal experience, while keeping the surrounding area quiet.

 

AUDIO SPOTLIGHT IN ACTION

Audio Spotlight is a revolutionary audio technology that creates sound in a narrow beam, just like light. Aim the flat, thin speaker panel to your desired listening area, and provide all of the sound and none of the noise.™ From museums, exhibits, and digital signage to retail stores and special projects, hundreds of companies have chosen this patented technology to provide high-quality, precisely controlled sound, while preserving the quiet.™