Create your audio track with your speakers’ frequency range in mind. Most directional speakers handle the spoken word well, but orchestrated tracks may get distorted.
EQ your soundtrack to your specific speaker model to get a more focused sound performance.
Modulate the level of sound to the environment. Quiet places, such as bookstores, will only tolerate targeted low-decibel sound.
Think about how your audience will interact with the display. Will they be standing in the same spot every time? Do you need to grab their attention from across the room?
If the ambient noise in your environment will fluctuate over time, choose a speaker like the Maestro from Brown Innovations or the Sound Shower from Panphonics, which both automatically adjust audio gain as crowd noise increases.
When in doubt, use sound sparingly. And if the installation is in a cacophonous public spot, skip the audio altogether and rely on powerful visuals instead.
Most digital signage is completely silent. The reason is fairly simple. While you can avoid the visual portion of a presentation by turning your head, you can’t avoid the audio as easily. "Where video tends to be focused into a vector, sound tends to be a 360-degree bubble around you," explains Dick Trask, marketing director for Scala, Inc.
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TOP: At London’s Churchill Museum, an interactive "Lifeline" of documents and photos from Winston Churchill’s life features a targeted "sound shower" that keeps audio relevant and focused on the viewer beneath it. Photo courtesy of Electrosonic/ AV Magazine (UK).
ABOVE: This annotated photo of a museum installation featuring speakers from Holosonic Research Labs shows how audio can target specific viewers within close proximity.
The AS-18 Audio Spotlight speaker from Holosonic Research Labs is ideal for quiet spaces, such as galleries, offices or high-end retail environments.
