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Bacon and Lexter Unite to Stage First Hyper Directional Sound Run With A Blind Athlete

10/04/2017
Production Company
Copenhagen, Denmark
537
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'The Impossible Run' utilises a laser sharp sound tunnel to guide the blind athelete
Lexter is a leading Swedish sound design company aiming to explore the power of cutting edge sound technology.

But they wanted to take things to the next level and for that they needed a fearless expert – an athlete equipped with extraordinary hearing abilities, who wanted to take his own dreams to the next level.


In collaboration with Parasport (Swedish Paralympics Association) and McCann Stockholm, they’ve found Oscar Widegren, an 18 old blind athlete ready to take the challenge and be part of THE IMPOSSIBLE RUN.

 
The list of Oscar’s eye disease is long. But that hasn’t stopped him from participating in sports - Oscar is among Sweden’s best judo-wrestlers, hee skis (the black slopes, of course), rides the canoe, hikes and much more, all with help from his parents guiding him.

But there’s one thing Oscar hasn’t been able to do until now – run! Not without guidance.


The challenge for Lexter was to create an invisible sound corridor that enables a blind person to run without any human guidance, but guided by hyper directional sound only.



“What we wanted to explore was if sound technology could create new experiences, all on its own. Experiences no one has ever experienced before. That’s how The Impossible Run was born. To guide a person to walk via hyper directional sound is one thing. It’s a totally different thing to create a laser sharp, hyper-directional sound tunnel guiding someone running as fast as he or she can. And when that person is blind, well it takes the idea to a whole new level of accuracy and complexity. Just imagine yourself running as fast as you can, in complete darkness”, says Margareta Andersson, founder & CEO of Lexter, based in Stockholm Sweden. 

Oscar and the teams from Lexter and McCANN Stockholm started training together – optimizing and calibrating the technology and speakers, isolating disturbing reverbs and echoes and trying to find the exact right frequency.

On March 17 in a stadium outside Stockholm, two state-of-the-art hyper directional speakers created a laser sharp audio tunnel in which Oscar could run. 


“For me, this project sounded interesting in so many ways. I love all kinds of sports and challenges and have always dreamed of being able to run on my own as I’ve always been very independent. But even more interesting was that the project really pushed the boundaries for what is possible in our sports. It enables new ways for visually impaired people to participate in new sports, and that’s a good thing”, Oscar says. 

“The technology is both empowering and liberating Oscar at the same time. Lexter needed to develop the exact right type of sound, in the exact right volume, in the exact right frequency so that Oscars ears would still register the tailor-made sound even under these extreme conditions It really is a beautiful idea that sits right in the middle of the intersection of creativity and technology. And I have to say that none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for our amazing friends over at Bacon Film Production, says Adam Kerj, CCO McCann Nordics.

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