Museums & institutions
Audio guides for small museums: costs and a pilot
Published Updated 4 min read
A small museum can start its audio guide in a single gallery. First decide whether visitors will use loan devices, their phones or a combination. Then estimate the front-desk workload and test access with a varied audience before expanding the route.
Choose loan devices, visitor phones or both
| Aspect | Loan device | Visitor phone |
|---|---|---|
| Device | Museum. | Visitor. |
| Battery and app | Museum control. | Vary by phone. |
| Before | Buy or rent, charge and check. | Help with access. |
| Handling | Issue, collect and clean. | Help with the phone. |
The museum also needs to replace faulty loan devices. With visitor phones, people may need help with storage, earphones, permissions and using the phone.
Loan devices let the museum control the experience. Consider them when many visitors do not carry a suitable phone, connectivity is difficult or the experience must be consistent.
Using visitor phones, also called BYOD, reduces the equipment supplied by the museum and allows content to be updated in one place. Allow for each person's battery level and digital confidence. It is not free; the cost lines change.
A hybrid model. Visitors use their own phones by default and the museum keeps a small pool of devices for those who cannot or prefer not to. This can help you test phone use while providing equipment for visitors who need it.
Calculate the full cost of each model
Compare all three models over the same period. Include:
- content creation, translation and review;
- software or service fees;
- devices, cases, chargers and loan earphones;
- front-desk support time;
- cleaning, inventory, breakage and replacement;
- network, signage and visitor support;
- updates when a gallery or attribution changes.
ICOM's third report on museums and COVID-19 found differences in digital presence and activity between large and small museums, linked partly to limited human and financial resources. Choose what the real team can maintain, not only what looks best in a demonstration.
Accessibility begins before anyone presses play
An audio-only guide excludes part of the audience. For prerecorded audio, W3C calls for an equivalent text alternative. It also recommends clear speech, low background sound and user control of volume. The W3C guide to accessible audio and video is a checklist for the script stage.
Also ask:
- Is a complete transcript easy to find?
- Can people navigate without precise gestures or tiny text?
- Does it work with screen readers and the user's chosen audio output?
- Is there an alternative for someone without earphones, battery or a smartphone?
- Does the route offer pauses, seats and a shorter version?
Pilot one gallery in five steps
Before producing the whole collection, run a small trial; for example, four or five objects in one gallery over two weeks. Include regular visitors, older people, families, someone who uses assistive technology and someone who does not want to use their phone.
- 1. Define the scope: choose the gallery, objects and audiences you want to observe.
- 2. Prepare the content: write four or five short scripts, transcripts and a no-audio plan.
- 3. Set up access: place signage and prepare instructions, loan devices and front-desk support.
- 4. Observe the visit: let people start without help and record where they hesitate or leave.
- 5. Review the results: compare starts and finishes, help requests, explanation time, device or browser failures, loan requests, replayed stops and transcript use.
Many people scanning the access code does not show that they can finish the visit. The useful question is whether visitors can start, complete the route and recover when something goes wrong.
What the first version should contain
Start small: a welcome, instructions, four essential objects, transcripts, a simple map and a closing. Avoid decorative music, deep menus and features the team cannot explain at reception.
Prepare the no-audio route too: printed or digital text, visible object numbers and a clear way to request a loan device. If the network fails or a phone runs out of battery, the visit should still make sense.
For an accompanied visit, try live audio
An accompanied visit and a recorded audio guide meet different needs. If you want a guide to speak while visitors listen on their phones, you can try Echoris with two phones and earphones.
Use one phone as the guide and the other as a visitor. Walk through a gallery with a colleague and check joining, volume and recovery if audio is interrupted. Then test with the intended audience and group size, including alternative access options.
Prepare an Echoris trial with two phones.
If you want recordings that visitors can play at their own pace, ask the provider to demonstrate playback, access and updates. A live-audio rehearsal does not replace that test. To charge for a route, also check how to prepare audio-guide sales and support. To compare equipment, see radioguides and phones.
Sources
- International Council of Museums — Museums and COVID-19: third survey.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative — Making Audio and Video Media Accessible.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative — Transcripts.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a small museum need to buy devices?
- Not necessarily. It can use loan hardware, visitor phones or a hybrid. The decision depends on audience, accessibility, support and total cost.
- Does BYOD mean zero cost?
- No. It reduces museum-owned hardware but retains content, service, signage, support, network, testing and alternative-access costs.
- What about visitors without smartphones?
- Offer an alternative such as a small loan pool, accessible text or human interpretation. A phone should not become a condition of entry.
- How should an audio guide be tested before rollout?
- Use four or five objects in one gallery, a varied audience, and short-term measures of starts, completions, help, failures and alternative use.
- What should the provider demonstrate before a museum contracts?
- Access and playback on real devices, content updates, accessible options and support. Distinguish a live guided visit from a prerecorded audio guide and confirm which service is available.