The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is proud to announce, that it has produced its first Audio tour of the heritage galleries. With audio players now available at the admissions desk, visitors can enhance their experience while touring the ROM’s galleries. Visitors may listen to the Director's Choice, highlighting William Thorsell's favourite objects and spaces in the ROM. Narrated by CBC Radio One’s Metro Morning host, Andy Barrie, the Audio Tour also offers commentaries by a number of the ROM’s curators. The audio is recorded on small Antenna Audio mp3 devices with a built-in speaker and headphones that comfortably hang around visitors’ necks. Also for visitors with hearing loss, neck loops are available with T-coil compatible hearing aids.
The Audio Tour showcases the ROM’s permanent collections and special exhibitions. There is an Audio Tour for the Ancient Peru exhibition on display until August 6, 2007. Selected items are indicated on the display label throughout the Museum, and on a special map issued to visitors upon rental of the Audio Tour. Visitors are not required to follow the order listed on the map and may experience the museum at their own pace. Objects highlighted include a 400 hundred year old Temple Bell in the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China, and a Hadrosaur in the Samual Hall v Currelly Gallery on Level 1.
Internet visitors can click on images from the Audio Tour’s highlighted objects to hear the recorded commentaries. At the bottom of each image is an object number and title. Please visit www.rom.on.ca/about/media/audio/index.php. The intended audiences are all audiences that may be curious to find out more information about objects that wouldn't normally be on a label. Web site visitors can download, view and listen the Audio Tour on their computer, iPod or mp3 player.
The ROM has created the Audio Tour program so that visitors can hear more detailed descriptions of the ROM’s collections. In the future, there will be a more descriptive audio tour for the visually impaired visiting the museum. The Audio Tour is available to rent for $5 with regular admission and $4 for ROM Members in both English and French. Following the opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal galleries, a new audio tour will be available to include the newest galleries.
Antenna Audio is the leading provider of audio-visual interpretation to museums, exhibitions, historic sites and visitor attractions internationally.