Visitors skim
Sound-led visitor experience design
Turn your exhibition into a story visitors can hear, feel and remember.
Sphere of Sound designs and delivers the complete listening experience for museums and heritage sites, from visitor journey to on-site testing, working with the partners you already have.
Oorlog Dichtbij
A different starting point
Most audio guides inform. Few make people feel where they are.
Information without emotion
Meaning that is felt, not just read.
Audio bolted on late
Sound designed into the visitor journey from the start.
What you get
One specialist, the whole listening experience.
We shape visitor journey and narrative pacing, direct and cast voices, compose music, create sound design, produce spatial and binaural audio, prepare accessible versions, implement with your existing platform, and test and tune on site.
One responsible partner, without adding complexity for your exhibition.
Listen
Hear how place becomes part of the story.
Listen directly to an excerpt from the English audio tour for Van Pool tot Paradijs.
Bird on the Stairs
Van Pool tot Paradijs · English
Listen with headphones.
Listen to more spatial sound compositions at listen.sphereofsound.com →How we work with your team
Clear from first question to opening day.
We plug into your existing technology and partners. Nothing needs to be replaced.
- 01
Tell us about your exhibition
Share the route, opening date, audiences and current partners.
- 02
Receive a clear first scope
We respond within five working days with a timeline and budget range.
- 03
Design and produce together
We work alongside your exhibition designer, AV supplier and platform.
- 04
Test before opening
We listen on site and include agreed revisions before delivery.
Selected work
Relevant experience, stated precisely.
The British Museum - The Bayeux Tapestry
Official audioguide production, commissioned by Tapart.
Stichting Groninger Kerken - Oorlog Dichtbij
ISA Award 2025 winner - Audiotour and On-site Spatial Sound Experiences.
Art Basel Miami - Aku World
Spatial sound design and audio composition for large-scale visual projection environments, synchronising spatial sound with generative visual worlds.
Why Sphere of Sound
Design the visitor state before designing the sound.
Sphere of Sound is Jelmer Althuis’s Sound-Led Experience Design studio in Groningen. Using the State Design Framework - intention, physiology, dramaturgy and integration - we design what a visitor should feel and understand at each point of the route, and then build the sound to achieve that.
Spatial and binaural production, accessibility and implementation are capabilities in service of that outcome, never the starting point.
Let's explore the possibilities
What could sound bring to your experience?
Whether you're developing a new exhibition, designing an immersive environment or exploring new ways to engage your audience, sound can play a powerful role.
Let's discuss your ideas and discover where sound could make a meaningful difference.
Let's Explore What Sound Can DoFree 30-minute introductory conversation. No obligation.
Frequently asked
Practical questions, clearly answered.
Can you work with our existing platform or AV supplier?+
Yes. We work alongside your exhibition designer, AV supplier and audio-guide platform. We assess the setup early and design for it. Nothing needs to be replaced.
Our exhibition designer is already appointed. Is that a problem?+
No. Sphere of Sound joins the existing team as the specialist responsible for the listening experience, without duplicating another partner’s role.
How early should we involve you?+
Ideally during concept or design, while the visitor journey can still be shaped. We can also join later, provided scope, access and testing time allow it.
What does it cost?+
That depends on route length, languages, production level and implementation. After a free introductory conversation, we quickly provide a clear first budget range.
Do visitors need special equipment?+
Not necessarily. The right setup depends on the experience and your existing technology. We recommend only what the visitor journey requires.
Can you produce accessible versions?+
Yes. Accessible versions are planned as part of the same production, rather than treated as a late addition.
Creative collaboration
For Exhibition Designers & Creative Partners
Sound belongs in the design process, not at the end of it.
We collaborate with exhibition designers, scenographers and creative producers to make sound an integral part of the visitor experience. From the earliest concept to final on-site integration, we bring storytelling, sound design and spatial audio into the conversation — shaping how visitors navigate, connect with and remember an exhibition.
Whether you need a specialist audio partner for a single installation or a creative collaborator across an entire exhibition, we work alongside your team to turn the intended experience into something audiences can truly feel.
Selected collaborations
Oorlog Dichtbij
Immersive soundscapes and spatial storytelling developed in collaboration with exhibition designers for a heritage experience.
International Sound Awards — 2× Winner, 2025
Explore project →
Aku World — Art Basel Miami
Original sonic worlds designed to bring an immersive audiovisual installation to life.
Explore project →Free introductory conversation
Let's explore the possibilities.
Tell me a little about your project or idea, and let's see what sound could bring to the experience.