For Outdoor Displays, Visuals Need the Support of Quality Audio

 

To capture the ever-growing experience-driven demands of consumers, great content coupled with quality sound is the new standard. On this episode of the Pro AV Podcast, host Daniel Litwin sat down with Dave Howden, Director of Technical Services for Community Loudspeakers, to discuss how the AV industry is feeling the effects of a content-driven consumer base and strategies that AV professionals can use to stay ahead of the curve, especially with outdoor displays and audio.

“In recent years we’ve seen that the quality and size of visual displays have increased and stepped up to provide an excellent experience in almost any environment,” Howden said. “The quality of the content is increasingly compelling. And we’ve seen the audio industry provide and create solutions to reinforce those visuals with high-quality sound.”

These three elements — visual display, content, and sound — are engaging consumers in increasingly impressive ways. That means consumers should have a completely seamless experience on all three accounts.

“In the audio world, sound is affected by factors like ambient background noise, wind, thermal gradients, and temperature,” Howden said. “There’s an expectation for good synchronization between audio and video, but that can be a variable environment.”

Howden said people will generally tolerate 50 milliseconds of discontinuity between what they see in mouths moving, and what they hear.

“In an ideal world, what people see, we want them to hear within 35 milliseconds.”

Listen to Howden break down the necessity of quality audio, and what changes in technology (like automation) are encouraging more immersive audio experiences.

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