The equipment, a connected backpack controlled by an app, picks up ambient sounds using artificial intelligence. It "identifies everything that happens in the audio spectrum" and transcribes the sounds in the form of vibrations, detailed to AFP Damien Quintard, founder of SoundX.
After "eight months of testing", these backpacks will be deployed next season "to be operational on the entire offer of the Philharmonie in 2024/2025", said its director Olivier Mantei.
"Vibrating pack" systems have already been used in several music events in recent years. But they "only transcribe the bass (the lowest notes of a chord, editor's note)," insisted Damien Quintard, adding that the solution proposed by SoundX would capture the musical frequency "up to 20,000 hertz", against 100 with current options.
The deputy director in charge of social responsibility at the Philharmonie de Paris, Sarah Koné, assured that the device would be free for spectators who will still benefit from a 20% discount on the price of their tickets.
No need for an individual phone to connect to the application available on iPhone and iPad: in its rooms, the Philharmonie controls vibrating backpacks using a single tablet.
Damien Quintard (r) and Olivier Mantei, general director of the Cité de la musique, in Paris, present the vibrating backpack for the deaf and hard of hearing public, on May 11, 2023 in front of the Philharmonie © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
In parallel with the deployment of this device, shows adapted to hearing disabilities will be offered by the Philharmonie, which already has alternatives for different disabilities.
"Three +chansigné + concerts and a children's show on the history of Babar, translated into sign language", will be, among others, on the program of the 2023/2024 season, said the head of the Philharmonie's accessibility department, Helen Lamotte.
Ultimately, Damien Quintard believes that these vibrating backpacks could emancipate themselves from theaters and become a daily help for deaf and hard of hearing people, by allowing them, for example, "to distinguish the siren of an ambulance from that of a horn or the barking of a dog".
© 2023 AFP