While travelling has been halted for most people around the world, one airline has taken to tech to bring the best of Keukenhof into the homes of people – in 8D sound!
In a video KLM Royal Dutch Airlines posted to their Facebook page they note: For over a hundred years it’s been our passion to fly you to the most beautiful places in the world. However, under the current circumstances, we’re not able to fly you everywhere. That’s why we’ve decided to bring a piece of our homeland to you. So put on your headphones for a unique 8D sound experience 🔊and enjoy one of Holland’s most unique places. In this episode, we showcase the beautiful spring garden Keukenhof!
View the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0XKGOa8SfM
When you view the video with headphones on, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were right in the middle of Keukenhof – the world’s largest bulb-flower garden (32 hectares to be exact) – in an immersive audible experience unlike any other.
Keukenhof has over seven million bulbs and a total of 800 varieties of tulips and attracts around 1.5 million visitors during its eight-week season, when its fields and planted displays of multicoloured tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are in bloom. 2020 is of course a little different due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and because the world cannot travel to Keukenhof themselves, KLM decided to bring Keukenhof to the world in this unique way.
What is 8D sound?
In an article shared by Groove Cartel, they note: “8D sound is a technique that allows hearing sounds as if you were in the middle of it. That feeling of music that runs through your head, thanks to the use of headphones, is the result of equalisation techniques, panning and effects combined together. In short, panning is the ability to distribute the sound on different audio channels. If you think about your earphones, they have two physical channels: left and right. You can pan the sound all the way to the left or the right or, you can choose a specific sound to be played by one or the other earphone. The result is the so-called 8D audio (which has no sense as the physical space where we live is mapped on 3 dimensions) that let you appreciate sounds coming from different directions.”
The world today looks very different to how it did at the start of 2020. Until it is safe to travel again, we’ll likely continue to see brands the world over finding creative and unique ways to keep the travel dream alive and leveraging technology to transport travellers to beautiful destinations – virtually. The use of 8D sound is just the start…
