I have historically recommended that any exhibit with headphones also include a
standard mini jack for personal headphones. This is not a response to Covid but
rather to the general visitor discomfort with sharing headphones. I also
suggest that inexpensive ear bud type headphones be made available for purchase
since visitors don’t habitually travel with headphones in their pockets. The
cost of adding a mini-jack to an exhibit with headphones is usually
inconsequential, even retroactively. The functionality is often already there,
just not implemented.
Unfortunately, mini jacks don’t work for bluetooth headphones, so it’s tempting
to consider adding a bluetooth connection. But making a bluetooth connection
direct to headphones is complex as you’ve observed. Pairing is difficult to do
without a visual user interface. I don’t believe this is practical at this
time. It may never be since making it easy would have to be a feature in the
headphones, not the exhibit design, and why would manufacturers care?
However, using Bluetooth to connect to visitor phones to provide a personal
interface is promising. I know of at least three companies capable of
implementing this now, via wi-fi or bluetooth, and I’m sure many others could.
At the moment, these would still be “custom” solutions, but companies are
working on “commoditizing” this approach.
Streaming audio is fine for asynchronous audio, but not for synchronous
delivery. And it’s effectively the same as a mobile app or web delivery.
“Focused” speakers are not, in and of themselves, a solution. Acoustic control
requires wholistic design. Focused speakers can be a part of this but without
environmental controls they don’t solve the problem. With wholistic acoustic
design, you often don’t need hyper focused speakers. I generally prefer
“narrow-beam” rather than “focused” in a wholistic design.
Cheers,
tod
Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
> On Aug 12, 2020, at 10:23 AM, George Scharoun <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm curious to know how you have or plan to adapt to new hygiene standards in
> terms of headphones, specifically the type attached to a video or interactive
> in the galleries.
> Do you have short term fixes or long term strategies you'd like to share or
> think through?
>
> Some ideas (all with pros and cons I think):
> -Streaming audio at QR-code link
> -Focused speakers
> -Open headphone jack, plug in your own
> -Create new content silent by design when speakers aren't appropriate
> -Move content to mobile app or web
>
> Looking forward to hearing from others,
> George
>
> -
>
> George Scharoun
> He/him/his
> Manager of Exhibition and Gallery Media
> Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | 617-276-5217 (mobile)
> www.mfa.org
> The MFA is currently closed and staff are working remotely
>
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