How directional speakers can enhance your exhibition displays

The Paris Air Show 2019 was packed with aviation companies displaying their latest wares to the world. And for exhibition design and display agencies like RTH, we also like to introduce new solutions into the work we do. We are always seeking to enhance the results for our clients.

For UTC we introduced directional speakers into parts of their pavilion to improve their guests’ experience as they walked around the exhibits. So let’s tell you a bit more about directional speakers and how they can enhance an exhibition display.

What are directional speakers?

Directional speakers use ultrasonic technology to transmit sound in a focused beam rather than over a wide area. As an analogy, think like a spotlight instead of a floodlight. To create this effect there is completely different technology underneath the bonnet of a directional speaker compared to a regular one.

Our use of directional speakers in exhibition displays for UTC at Paris 2019

The big benefit of directional speakers in a busy exhibition pavilion is that they can significantly reduce sound bleed from one part of the pavilion to another. In days of old, companies would just have to accept that if they wanted an audio feature in one display, it would be heard in another. Not anymore!

So because UTC wanted to serve up different displays to small audiences in close proximity, directional speakers meant we could offer a neat solution.

The technical set-up

Prior to installation, our UK design team experimented with different speakers in our UK design studio. This gave us understanding of how the sound interacted with its environment so we could get the design right.

The most appropriate directional speakers were selected. The choice of black covers was considered to be a useful function in signalling to users where to stand. And they matched other black materials used in the exhibition displays.

Some of the displays in the pavilion had overhead directional speakers, while the striking LED column in Pratt & Witney’s Future Zone had hidden directional speakers lower down which bounced sound off the floor and up to the visitor. It all contributed to a highly successful pavilion for UTC and their subsidiaries, Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Witney: