Germany’s Holoplot To Demo 3D Focused Audio For Immersive Projects At ISE

May 4, 2022 by Dave Haynes

The preview material and booth visit invites are now coming in steadily from companies doing stands next week at Integrated Systems Europe in Barcelona, and much of what I have seen suggests a lot of the display tech will be about improvements to existing tech as opposed to reveals of new ideas and ways of doing things. Which is understandable and fine. Tech like OLED and microLED don’t just come out every year.

But there are definitely some interesting advancements to see, and in the case of a Berlin company called HOLOPLOT, to hear.

Directional and focused audio has been around for years, but the Berlin firm HOLOPLOT will be demonstrating a different, very interesting take on enhancing immersive spaces and big venues with what it calls 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis.

The audio-beamforming allows for precise shaping and steering of audio beams in two dimensions, “to easily create sound fields that optimally cover audience areas of any shape and size.”

Wave field synthesis “enables an exceptionally authentic sound localization with lifelike distance and directional perception of audio objects, creating realistic and deeply immersive soundscapes.”

What that means is between speaker arrays and software, sound can be directed to specific, shaped zones – so that if you are standing in that zone, you hear the targeted sound, but steps away, nothing, or different audio emanating at the same time from the same speaker array.

Says Holoport:

HOLOPLOT Technology is capable of tightly focusing audio content onto small groups of people, even down to individual audience members – a powerful tool for creating targeted sound experiences, creating special effects at specific listener positions, or bouncing focused sound beams off walls or surfaces, like using a mirror to reflect light.

A HOLOPLOT Audio System can precisely deliver multiple focused audio contents to different positions in the audience area. Listeners can embark on a journey across unique and changing sound experiences – what you hear will depend on where you are.

Another world’s first, for sound designers to create truly novel experiences in immersive installations, theme park environments, and many more – the only limitation is the artist’s imagination.

It is likely one of those of technologies integrators and end-users need to directly experience and hear, and I hope these folks (or a partner) are at InfoComm a few weeks later. Constantly running, repeating audio is not used all that much for digital signage jobs because the messaging gradually drives the people working all day in those environments all day mad. But you could imagine this sort of thing being quite effective in museums, attractions and other kinds of venues to complement what’s on screens or being projected.

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