An interactive museum about hearing and hearing implants

AUDIOVERSUM museum in Innsbruck is a unique place, where you can meet the world of sounds in a quite different way from what you can experience in your everyday life. This place offers you the opportunity to try out different games, to discover hearing and its role in our life, as well as visit various temporary exhibitions and get additional information through audio guides and podcasts.

For example, one of the visitors´ favorite exhibits is the “Binaural Game”. Birdsong is played through headphones in such a way that the visitor must locate where the sound is coming from and catch the imaginary birds. However, this is not an easy task, as the sound localization skill would require bilateral hearing (hearing on both sides), as well as corresponding cognitive experience.

A science center

Julia Sparber-Ablinger is the manager of AUDIOVERSUM science center: “The main exhibition is presented in a children-friendly way via a fun puzzle rally where the children are using a Tiptoi pen. The ear model in our museum is explained in short videos by Trude – the AUDIOVERSUM clown woman. The children can also try out the experiments explained by Trude live!”

In addition to changing special exhibitions, the main exhibition is also regularly expanded with new exhibits. For example, there is now a newly designed touchscreen timeline, which tells about the milestones in the development of hearing technology.

For children, the AUDIOVERSUM´s educational concept offers a variety of other activities in addition to interactive exhibits. These include activities from classic school tours and various workshop offerings to age-appropriate puzzles and Tiptoi rallies. It is also possible to celebrate a birthday party at the museum. The Science Café provides teachers with in-depth insights into the museum´s educational concepts and important impulses for everyday school life.

Museums as educational institutions

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) defines the mission of one museum as follows: “It acquires, preserves, researches, presents and communicates the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment.” It is important, thus, to communicate everything in an understandable way, as this is what education in a broader sense means.

AUDIOVERSUM meets these requirements in several ways. Visitors can try out and experience individual functions of the sense of hearing in a playful and entertaining way. Information panels, exhibits and video clips provide information about hearing, hearing loss and hearing aids. Special exhibitions aim to place the ability to hear in the context of human life and relate it to other sensory impressions, cognitive performance, and our cultural society in general.

A visit to the museum

So, if you happen to visit Innsbruck, do not forget to add a visit to AUDIOVERSUM museum to your must-see list as well. Our hearing ambassadors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia had a chance to explore the museum´s rich program this September.

Peter, a father of a 2-year-old CI user, was impressed with the museum´s offer. He adds that he was happy to have had the opportunity to visit this museum together with his family and discover not only the world of hearing but also hearing implants in more detail. This brought them a better understanding of the development of hearing implants to what they are today. The same impression was shared by Lenka Chmelova, a CI mother of a 3-year-old Evelyn, whose daughter got bilaterally implanted when she was 1 year old. She was thankful to have this chance to come and explore the world of hearing from a completely different perspective and learn a lot of different aspects of hearing, together with her daughter.

AUDIOVERSUM ScienceCenter

Wilhelm-Greil-Straße 23, 6020 Innsbruck

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 - 17:00, also on holidays

Phone number: +43 (0)5 7788 99

email: office@audioversum.at

The latest information: www.audioversum.at

Infos and interviews with experts: www.audioversum.at/blog

Podcasts: www.audioversum.at/podcast