November 6, 2003
Press Release

Holosonics is pleased to announce its recent installation of the Audio SpotlightŪ directional sound technology in the most popular museum in the world. The installation, designed by notable multimedia designer and artist Alan Stone, is in the National Air and Space Museum's Centennial of Flight Exhibition, "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age", which celebrates 100 years of powered flight. The recently opened exhibition at the Smithsonian includes the original 1903 Wright Flyer, and honors the technical achievements of Wilbur and Orville Wright, as well as the worldwide impact of their pioneering work.

The Audio Spotlight, invented by Holosonics founder Dr. F. Joseph Pompei while a graduate student at MIT, uses ultrasonic energy to create extremely narrow beams of sound that behave like beams of light. By "shining" the sound to one location, specific listeners can be targeted with sound - without others nearby hearing it. This degree of sonic control, unmatched by any other sound system in the world, permits the Museum to fashion a highly localized listening region for their visitors.

Companies such as Motorola, Time-Warner, DaimlerChrysler, Kraft Foods, Sega, and American Greetings have chosen the Audio Spotlight, and Audio Spotlight systems have been installed in venues such as Boston's Museum of Science, the Matisse Museum, Sega's Joypolis, Bibliotheque National de France, Boston Center for the Arts, the European PGA tour, and the Chicago Cultural Center. Pompei was recently honored with a "Top Young Innovator" award from Technology Review Magazine for his achievements.

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, with over 161,000 square feet of exhibition floor space, is the most popular museum in the world, attracting on average more than 9 million visitors each year. The Museum maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world, and hundreds of artifacts on display including the original Wright 1903 Flyer, the "Spirit of St. Louis," Apollo 11 command module, and a Lunar rock sample that visitors can touch. The museum continues to develop new exhibits to examine the impact of air and space technology on science and society.

About Dr. F. Joseph Pompei

Beginning his career in acoustics at 16 as the youngest engineer at Bose Corporation, Joseph Pompei continued at Bose while earning a degree in Electrical Engineering with an Electronic Arts minor from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Recognizing the importance and underutilisation of spatialised sound, he decided to pursue research in psychoacoustics at Northwestern University, earning a Master's degree. Acutely aware of the limitations of traditional loudspeakers, he had the idea of using ultrasound as an acoustic projector, and has now developed such a device, called the "Audio Spotlight" at the MIT Media Lab, continuing his education to earn a Ph. D. Holosonics was founded in 1999 to commercialize the technology, and remains the world leader in directed audio solutions.

Smithsonian Wright Brothers information

Contact information:

Dr. F. Joseph Pompei
phone: 617-924-1576 x3
press@holosonics.com

Audio SpotlightŪ is a registered trademark of Holosonic Research Labs, Inc.