Holosonics’ Audio Spotlight Technology Enhances the Experience
for Visitors at One of the Country's Premier Maritime Museums
Visitors to the Mason County Historical Society's Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, MI, enjoy a dual-sensory experience, courtesy of several Audio Spotlight AS-168i directional speakers, each providing highly focused projected beams of sound to describe many of the exhibits on display. Audio Spotlight integrator Bluewater Technologies implemented the sound system at the museum, to overcome the challenge of adding audio at discrete locations, without any bleed between activations, or throughout the rest of the facility.
The all-inclusive Audio Spotlight system, which was installed prior to the museum's grand opening in June 2017, produces narrow beams of sound, similar to beams of light from a flashlight, for multiple maritime-themed exhibits, including narration by artist Jacob Lunde describing his 100-foot long painting, The Jacob Lunde Scroll. The painting depicts scenes of 19th century local industry such as lumbering, commercial fishing, and shipbuilding along the shores of Michigan's Pere Marquette Lake.
Five separate narratives describing scenes depicted in Lunde’s painting are broadcast by the Audio Spotlight speakers, providing patrons with an auditory connection to the artist without the encumbrance or unsafe tether of museum-provided headphones. Featuring a thin design with built-in amplifier and universal VESA mounting inserts, the compact AS-168i Audio Spotlight was a perfect fit for integration and mounting at the museum.
MicroSD cards inserted directly into the Audio Spotlight speakers stored exhibit audio, eliminating the need for any external devices or additional wiring, and customized Motion Sensors embedded inside each speaker triggered playback automatically and immediately based on a patron's physical entry into the area where each sound beam was focused. The features provided a perfect solution for the museum curator, who sought to have each narrative played reliably from the start of each program when a patron’s presence is detected. The natural directivity of the Audio Spotlight technology also ensured that all sounds were contained to the exhibit area, and that none of the surrounding area was disturbed.
For its use in museum settings - or any other similar usage - the Audio Spotlight directional speaker is effectively a singular full-featured device requiring no external equipment or wiring, ensuring that any exhibit can have its own isolated audio, while the surrounding area is always quiet, or even completely silent when no listeners are detected in the beam area.
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ADVANTAGES
Sound for specific displays - and quiet elsewhere.
Several soundtracks in one room - without disturbing others or interfering with one another.
Untethered sound delivery, without the need for messy headphone wires or unsanitary handsets.
