The traditional method for dealing with similar situations is AGC to account for the ambient sound level at any particular time. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well. It wouldn't be as clean as a working parametric speaker setup, but it would probably be a lot cheaper.

 

It’s a family entertainment venue, consisting of a dozen, plus or minus, individual scenes that tell a story. The sound in each scene mustn’t bleed into adjacent scene nor contribute to the overall background noise. It’s an open space because every month or two, the story changes and the space reconfigured.

Pretty nifty. What price range were you quoted with so far?

 

Hi DJ, just going to be a smart a$$ here. Are you also going to project images to the eyes of just those people in the "bubble"? Like the guy last week that didn't want anyone but a certain person to see a thing?

 

The way to have localized sound that is simple, effective, and undoubtedly less expensive, is wireless transmission. Given the level of current technology, some sort of "LiFi" arrangement where each viewing location has a discrete address. That might even be available already. Certainly museums and art gallery locations have some effective scheme. Otherwise, just a plain modulated LED illumination with a simple receiver and speaker for each location would work.

 

The "ONLY" way to accomplish this end result is to build a Cube around each display built
out of 2X4 Framing-Studs, this includes creating a low-ceiling attached to the walls.

The Cubes must not be physically attached to each other.

The 2X4-Framing must be filled with "Rock-Wool" Building-Insulation bats, including the Ceiling.

The outside of the walls should be 2-layers of overlapped 1/2" Drywall, ( Gypsum-Board-Panels ).

The inside walls must be covered in a relatively light-weight material such as "Peg-Board" sheets,
( 1/8" thick Medium-Density-Fiber-Board (MDF),
with holes for hanging Tools, ( or other display items in this case )).
The MDF interior-walls can then be covered in
your choice of any sound absorbent material or cloth or left in their original natural-Brown-Finish.
Peg-Board is also available in White.

Now,
with 2 full-sized open Doorways between each "Cube",
there will be an almost imperceptible level of any type of sound coming from adjacent "Cubes".
And now,
You can have a relatively inexpensive, High-Fidelity, Stereo, sound system, in each "Cube",
all running simultaneously, with extremely low "cross-talk" between adjacent "Cubes",
and virtually zero outside ambient Noise detectable when inside in each individual "Cube".

If You will provide a Floor-Plan drawing, with the expected traffic-flow illustrated,
I'll provide You with enough information to allow any Building-Contractor to produce this type of setup.

These will be individual, temporary, stand-alone, "Boxes", NOT attached to the Building-Structure,
separated by a minimum of 6-feet, ( 2-Meters ), with NO-Doors, in order to meet Local-Fire-Codes.

This, ( or very similar ), is what will be required to achieve what You have described.
Been there, done that, and got the T-Shirt.
.
.
.

 

Post #25 does represent an alternative approach. Not the only or the best, certainly not the easiest. BUT it could work.

 

It is proven to work under "Real-World" conditions.
.
.
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Everyone, I’ve made my decision.

I was looking for localized speech or mono, low-fidelity background music. Sound should be limited to small areas in a large open space. The locations are separated only by their distance in open-space.

Holosonics manufacture the best solution, first and foremost as there seems to be no other solution with the collection of features that map to my requirements.

The "ONLY" way to accomplish this end result is to build a Cube around each display built
out of 2X4 Framing-Studs, this includes creating a low-ceiling attached to the walls.

The Cubes must not be physically attached to each other.

The 2X4-Framing must be filled with "Rock-Wool" Building-Insulation bats, including the Ceiling.

The outside of the walls should be 2-layers of overlapped 1/2" Drywall, ( Gypsum-Board-Panels ).

The inside walls must be covered in a relatively light-weight material such as "Peg-Board" sheets, ( 1/8" thick Medium-Density-Fiber-Board (MDF), with holes for hanging Tools, ( or other display items in this case )).
The MDF interior-walls can then be covered in
your choice of any sound absorbent material or cloth or left in their original natural-Brown-Finish. Peg-Board is also available in White.

Now, with 2 full-sized open Doorways between each "Cube",there will be an almost imperceptible level of any type of sound coming from adjacent "Cubes".

Physical boxes are a no-go as they violate the open-space requirement. Plus, I could almost pay for the Holosonics with the money saved from the cube construction costs. I’ve done cubes before in another enterprise, so I’m familiar with their use but they won’t work for me here.

Is it possible? From what I've seen (not on YT) I have to say apparently it is.

It is eminently possible. And the technology is pretty amazing. Unlike traditional speakers, the Holosonics do not directly move an air mass mechanically to create sound waves.

Tech-Ingredients is cramming over ~100-Watts of Power into their Panels was to get a reasonable listening volume.
Most likely, Audio-Spotlight is using a small, maybe 10-Watt, Digital-Amp, which is not going to cut through very much external-noise.

Perhaps they don’t need 100W? An ultrasonic speaker volume is no more than a quiet room until you are in front of it. Then they can produce 100dB of sound. Equivalent to the sound of a lawnmower.

You can have a relatively inexpensive, High-Fidelity, Stereo, sound system, in each "Cube", all running simultaneously, with extremely low "cross-talk" between adjacent "Cubes", and virtually zero outside ambient Noise detectable when inside in eachindividual "Cube".

But I don’t want nor need High Fidelity nor Stereo.

It is proven to work under "Real-World" conditions.

As are the Holosonics

The way to have localized sound that is simple, effective, and undoubtedly less expensive, is wireless transmission. Given the level of current technology, some sort of "LiFi" arrangement where each viewing location has a discrete address. That might even be available already. Certainly museums and art gallery locations have some effective scheme. Otherwise, just a plain modulated LED illumination with a simple receiver and speaker for each location would work.

It’s likely that the museums and art museums ARE using Holosonics, as that is their primary market (along with commercial trade displays).

I appreciate your time in making these comments.

 

I started this thread to see if there was a practical alternative to Holosonics.

There are several. I found at least two in about 30 seconds of searching. I'm not going to help you do a google search. You're grown up.

I've seen these several times and think they are a cool technology. I saw some in use at Meow Wolf in Denver in one of their exhibits. Certainly the 'heavily-influenced' arts use these. I can see how it could also be used in conjunction with Dolby 18234.50 to get some really cool effects where you might hear one thing in a song (or movie) while your partner next to you hears something completely different and could make the experience multi-dimensional. Radiohead has experimented with similar ideas. OK Computer is a good example. That album has things that I've only heard in the songs after thousands of plays. That is what makes that album magical, but they only have three knobs to change right now in music to accomplish this (minus playing the album in reverse), time, pan, and volume. Imagine if they could also control direction in the way that some listeners heard one thing while others heard something completely different!

I've actually wondered if they are using them in my local theater because the voices are so crystal clear and seem to be literally speaking to me - and not reflecting off of walls or anything, but that could just be really well tuned acoustics though too.

Good luck in your search!