A major asset of the museum is their continuing programme to educate and inform school children, with groups of students visiting every day to see the impressive galleries and learn from the modern interactive displays. Naturally, part of every visit includes a welcome talk and introduction to the museum, its objectives and displays. "We chose to use a PA system using d&b audiotechnik's Ci60 installation loudspeakers because I knew they would give the best clarity of speech for these sessions," said the museum's technical manager Walter van Elteren, who has a background in theatre sound systems. "We had to allow for the fact that school children can at times be noisy so we linked the PA system to an SPL computer that continuously samples background environmental noise and automatically adjusts the volume accordingly. This has proved to be a great success," he added.
The system was designed and supplied by d&b's Dutch partner Audio Pro Nederland. The Museum works closely with universities in Holland who, by law, must exhibit a range of their current work every year in order to raise awareness of science to the general public, particularly the young. "By providing the visitors with hands on experience, we can introduce them to science and technology from an early age, which can only be beneficial to their further education," concluded a museum spokesman. Perhaps for some, this isalso an early introduction to the world of professional sound reinforcement.
(Chris Henry)
