permalink: /assets/transcripts/making-waves-with-ultrasound-at-the-AoP.html title: “Making Waves with Ultrasoundat the Aquarium of the Pacific” date: 2025-08-18 categories: transcript audio_length: “19:21” recorded: “6:08 PM” participants:

  • Speaker 1 (AI host 1)
  • Speaker 2 (AI host 2) source_url: /media/podcasts// –making-waves-with-ultrasound-at-the-AoP-

Speaker 1
Close your eyes for a moment. Now imagine you’re watching a really breathtaking movie. Maybe you’re soaring through the ocean with dolphins or standing near a huge waterfall. But it’s not just about what you see and hear. What if you could actually feel it, feel the water rushing past, or maybe the gentle nudge of an animal or that deep rumble of a distant wave? And what if it was all tailored uniquely to you, especially if you happen to have sensory impairments. What if touch could bring that story alive in a whole new way?

Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s a powerful idea.

Speaker 1
Welcome to the deep dive. Today we’re exploring a really innovative project that did exactly that. We’re going to try and understand how this groundbreaking midair haptic solution was developed and deployed to enhance the experience for visitors with sensory impairments, specifically at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Speaker 2
And our mission here for this deep dive is really to unpack the technology behind this world-first public deployment. We want to reveal some of the surprising insights it uncovered about how we perceive things, how we engage, and also critically examine why projects like this matter so much for making our public spaces truly inclusive for everyone.

Speaker 1
We’re diving into a fascinating case study here. It describes the whole development process. We’ll pull out the most important findings, the guiding principles they discovered. It’s a remarkable look at how cutting-edge tech met a really profound mission. Let’s get into it.

Speaker 2
Sounds great.

Speaker 1
So maybe let’s start with the vision behind it all. The Aquarium of the Pacific has this inspiring core purpose, right? To instill a sense of wonder, respect, stewardship for the Pacific Ocean, its inhabitants, ecosystems.

Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s their foundation. But they also extend that mission. They aim to build what they call natural capital by building social capital.

Speaker 1
Okay, what does that mean exactly?

Speaker 2
Social capital is essentially about connecting people with nature, but doing it by fostering connections among people themselves, building community around that shared wonder.

Speaker 1
Ah, got it. So it’s people and nature together.

Speaker 2
Precisely. And this whole commitment really found a powerful expression in their new building, Pacific Visions. It’s way more than just another exhibit hall.

Speaker 1
Right.

Speaker 2
It features a state-of-the-art immersive theater, interactive art, multimedia displays, and of course, live animals, all designed to really deepen that connection we were talking about.

Speaker 1
And this big expansion, especially that immersive theater, presented a unique challenge, didn’t it? The aquarium was really determined to go way beyond standard accessibility requirements.

Speaker 2
Absolutely. Their goal wasn’t just compliance. It was to actively augment the movie experience for all visitors. And they had a specific focus on those with sensory impairments: people who were deaf, blind, and even wheelchair users.

Speaker 1
Wheelchair users, too. Because they wouldn’t normally feel the rumble seats.

Speaker 2
Exactly. Traditional rumble seats often don’t work well for wheelchair users. So the aquarium wanted something more universal.

Speaker 1
Okay, so that ambition, that’s what led them to commission Ultraleap.

Speaker 2
That’s right. To provide this unique tactile experience. And what’s really remarkable here is the timeline. This wasn’t some long-term research project. The whole innovative project — conceived, developed, and deployed — happened over an incredibly tight four-month period.

Speaker 1
Four months. Wow. So how did they actually do it? How do you touch the untouchable in midair? What’s the tech?

Speaker 2
Ultraleap’s midair haptic technology works by emitting focused ultrasound waves above human hearing range. These come from an array of small ultrasonic transducers, and they’re precisely directed onto a person’s hand, usually the palm or fingers.

Speaker 1
You can feel it — focused sound.

Speaker 2
Exactly. It creates distinct tactile sensations right there in midair, like little pockets of pressure or vibration you can feel on your skin. The specific hardware they used here was the Stratos Inspire model.

Speaker 1
Wow. Literal sound waves creating a physical feeling in space. That’s fascinating. But designing touch, that seems complex. You mentioned something about equipotentiality.

Speaker 2
Yes. The principle of equipotentiality basically suggests that the exact same physical touch can mean very different things to different people, depending on their past experiences, the context, and their expectations.

Speaker 1
Right. You don’t want a feeling meant to be a gentle wave to feel like static electricity.

Speaker 2
Exactly. Designing meaningful sensations was critical. And what makes this project’s findings even more compelling is how they pushed back against previous research. Some earlier studies on haptic feedback in movies surprisingly hadn’t found much benefit from synchronizing haptics with content.

Speaker 1
Really?

Speaker 2
Yes, but here they found the complete opposite. Synchronization wasn’t just helpful, it was critical. Aligning the haptic feedback directly with the audiovisual content — and importantly, with audio descriptions for visually impaired users — was fundamental to creating compelling experiences.

Speaker 1
So they found that synchronisation — touch perfectly matched to sound and visuals — actually made the experience immersive and coherent.

Speaker 2
Yes, and there was a second important principle: the sensations needed to be simple. The team quickly realised that overly complex patterns or too much detail just confused people. It wasn’t about recreating every ripple or splash of water. It was about providing a clear, meaningful touch sensation that complemented the story.

Speaker 1
Right, because the purpose isn’t to replicate reality exactly, but to enhance storytelling in a way that’s intuitive.

Speaker 2
Exactly. And that ties into the third principle: metaphorical mapping. Instead of trying to reproduce every literal element on screen, haptics worked best when they conveyed metaphors. For example, when the film mentioned strong winds, the audience felt a broad sweeping sensation across the palm — something metaphorical but still very powerful.

Speaker 1
I love that. So the touch isn’t always literal; it’s symbolic, interpretive, but that’s what makes it work.

Speaker 2
Yes, and that made it accessible across different audiences, too. People could interpret the metaphor in their own way, which was really powerful for inclusivity.

Speaker 1
So those three principles — synchronisation, simplicity, and metaphorical mapping — became the foundation of the whole project.

Speaker 2
That’s right. And those principles guided the development of three main types of haptic experiences they used in the theater:

  1. Literal representations — like bubbles rising through water.
  2. Narrative metaphors — like a sweeping wave for a storm.
  3. Abstract emphasis — short pulses to highlight key moments.

Speaker 1
So a palette of tactile tools, depending on what the story needed.

Speaker 2
Exactly. And what’s remarkable is how positively audiences responded. Visitors with visual impairments described the haptics as a way of ‘seeing through touch’. For many, it was the first time they felt fully included in this kind of immersive storytelling.

Speaker 1
That’s amazing. And what about wheelchair users?

Speaker 2
Yes, they reported finally being able to feel part of the collective movie experience. Because the midair haptics didn’t rely on rumble seats or physical vibration of the chair, it worked universally for everyone.

Speaker 1
That’s such a breakthrough.

Speaker 2
It really is. And the feedback didn’t just come from visitors with impairments. Sighted and hearing visitors also loved the haptics. They described it as adding a whole new dimension, a richness that made the story come alive.

Speaker 1
So it wasn’t a niche accessibility feature. It enhanced the experience for everyone.

Speaker 2
Precisely. That’s what universal design is all about. Accessibility doesn’t just benefit disabled people — it enriches the experience for all.

Speaker 1
And what about the practical side of running this in a busy public aquarium?

Speaker 2
That’s another great point. The technology had to be robust and maintainable. Ultraleap designed custom housings so the devices could be installed safely in the theater and run reliably every day.

Speaker 1
So this wasn’t just a research prototype. It was a real-world deployment.

Speaker 2
Exactly. A world-first, actually — the first permanent installation of midair haptics in a public cultural institution.

Speaker 1
That’s incredible. And I imagine it paved the way for future projects?

Speaker 2
Yes. The project showed that immersive environments like museums, aquariums, even cinemas could all benefit from midair haptics. And importantly, it highlighted that designing for inclusion can drive innovation.

Speaker 1
That’s such an important point. By focusing on accessibility, they discovered principles — synchronisation, simplicity, metaphorical mapping — that made the technology more effective for everyone.

Speaker 2
Exactly. Accessibility wasn’t an add-on; it was the driver of innovation.

Speaker 1
So what’s the bigger lesson here for other cultural institutions?

Speaker 2
The lesson is that accessibility should be part of the creative process from the start. If you build inclusivity into the heart of the project, you end up with experiences that are more engaging, more powerful, and more meaningful for all audiences.

Speaker 1
That’s a fantastic takeaway. And it’s inspiring to think about the future — where touch, sound, and vision all combine to create multisensory storytelling for everyone.

Speaker 2
Yes, and it’s only the beginning. With further advances in haptic technology, we’re going to see even richer, more expressive tactile experiences in public spaces.

Speaker 1
Well, that brings us to the end of our deep dive into the Aquarium of the Pacific project.

Speaker 2
It’s been a fascinating journey — from the ambitious vision of the aquarium, through the technology of Ultraleap, to the profound impact on visitors.

Speaker 1
And at the heart of it all is a simple but powerful truth: when we design for inclusivity, we unlock creativity that benefits everyone.

Speaker 2
Beautifully said.

Speaker 1
Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 2
And we’ll see you next time for another deep dive.