Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 3 - Daughter of the Regiment

13 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Disabilities (MOPD), with support from the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Innovation Initiative and in part by a grant from the League of Chicago Theatres and ComEd. Following extensive testing and re nements in the 2022/23 Season, the program had its maiden voyage during a performance of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman , the opening production for 2023/24. The initial reception has been extraordinarily positive. “It was such a wonderful experience,” said one audience member. “My rst time using a jacket that had vibration. I’m excited to see where this product goes.” SoundShirt wearers experience the feeling of music rendered on their upper body through a process known as haptic actuation—technology familiar to many, due to the vibrations most cell phones can produce. While the orchestra and artists perform in the pit and on stage, microphones capture their sound and transform it into a digital feed for the SoundShirt wearers. (In the theater itself, there is generally no ampli cation of any kind.) Computer software transforms this closed-circuit audio feed into touch data that is then broadcast wirelessly to the SoundShirts in real time with the performance. Different Brad Dunn (center) discusses the SoundShirt technology with CuteCircuit’s founders in London.