Although technically it is not complicated to add audio to a digital signage solution, the message can have consequences. To include or not include audio, the environment, audience and objectives must be taken into account.
By: Richard Santa
Digital signage has become an important item for the audiovisual industry. More and more solutions of this type are installed in Latin America, where the latest technology is available, both in screens and software for information management.
The common of the solutions is that they transmit messages through video and text, but they are rarely installed with sound, because the place where they are located could end up being a distracting element and disturb the normal development of the activities of the place where it is installed.
In this regard, there are diverse opinions on digital signage solutions with audio. For Cristian Mecalco, director of the Mexican Association of Digital Signage, it is quite common. He gives as an example that in Mexico the solutions installed in retail are equipped with local audio plus the audio of digital signage.
Santiago Algorta, director of Digital Signage Media, said that "It is not common. What's more, in my personal opinion, signage solutions should not have audio. Audio is polluting. However, in the market of digital signage for mass audiences, competing for the attention of the audience, audio is used as a hook. In the corporate segment some customers request monitors with audio to convert them into television screens when there are matches ... etc. It seems like a mistake to me."
From planning
Although all systems for digital signage are capable of transmitting audio, this is a decision that customers must make since the solution is designed, because, as Cristian Mecalco says, "not all professional monitors have speakers to reproduce it. Therefore, you have to take into account whether audio content will always be presented or not, to choose the right speaker system or the professional monitor with integrated speakers."
Another fundamental factor is the space and audience, since the physical conditions of the place vary from one installation to another. The sound in a digital signage solution must be designed for the right audience and space. A student cafeteria is not the same as a lobby of the presidency of a corporation.
It is also important to consider whether you should have sound on each screen or a separate sound system that conveys the message. And although either option is relatively easy to apply, the point is to be able to offer the audio correctly distributed according to the areas and departments, as well as look for strategies that discourage cross-selling, in the case of facilities aimed at retail.
On digital signage with audio, Santiago Algorta gives as an example the dependence of the solution on the type of environment, audience and objectives. "We recently installed a Sony Canvas in a lobby of a company and at the request of the customer it was put sound. Very good, quite discreet and of the highest quality. Within a week, the secretaries working nearby asked for it to be turned off. All the content had to be redesigned to work without sound."
Therefore, the two experts consulted for this article recommend that the addendum for digital signage solutions should be directed and always taking care not to pollute the environment.
Balanced content
Obviously, a content for digital signage without audio is not the same as another made with it. Content should have a different rhythm when it carries sound. "In the case of traditional billboards, sound is one of the many messages that the screen can contain. You have to work on finding a balance between the different messages or think that sound is the hook for other messages, "said the director of Digital Signage Media.
But how much can it influence the reception of the message whether or not it has audio? For Cristian Mecalco, the result depends on the context. If you are on the street, inside the car waiting for the red light to change to green, and you see an advertising screen presenting advertising, in that context whether it has audio or not, it does not matter.
"The message must be constructed with greater weight in the visual than in the auditory. In this context, the auditovo message would compete with the radio inside the car, the noise around in the street, the talk inside the car, etc. On the contrary, if I walk inside a retail, looking for my products and see a screen presenting an offer with content that has audio, I may not pay much attention to the visual, but the audio accompanies me while I continue walking and the screen comes out of my visual range. Obviously within retail, it must be avoided that there are other "audio threads" that compete with the audio of the screen, "he said.
On this subject, Santiago Algorta concluded that sound can be counterproductive and auyentar the audiente in a typical case of noise pollution.
A growing sector
For integrators of digital signage systems, this segment has been growing, with adoptions that are going at a good pace, although several business models are being given on these solutions that could end up affecting the technology that is adopted.
"Adoption is going at a good pace, although not as fast as we would like but there it goes. As there is a "free" signage model, that is, screens that live on advertising, there is a pressure to adopt very low-cost solutions that allow the model to be made profitable. However, there is another market, the corporate segment, which does not want notices within the corporate information, which must pay more for these solutions and when businesses are mixed, it makes a mess," said Santiago Algorta.
For his part, Cristian Mecalco, stressed that the DS market in Colombia has begun to work hand in hand with IAB Colombia to form the Digital Signage Committee, made up of several professional companies. "It seems to me that this will greatly boost the medium in the country."
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