MKII Headphones & Battery Audio Players – Dik Trom’s School

Dik Trom is a school in the Netherlands just outside of Amsterdam that takes an open approach to education, intended to be a safe and welcoming space giving students shared responsibility with their teachers and parents over their learning. The school takes it’s name from a series of books authored by Dutch teacher Cornelis Johannes Kieviet over 100 years ago. He read the Dik Trom books to his students, their laughter being the test of success.

To this day the books are still being read and are considered classics in the Netherlands. Recently Dik Trom School turned one classroom into a small museum complete with original furniture from that period. Tim Heessels, Creative Developer at Studio Harm Hasenaar, goes on to elaborate about this project and how our hardware was utilised for it;

“Through 360 binaural audio, we can bring this old classroom back to life. You can hear the teacher walking through the class over the creaking floor, the students whispering, reading, and playing. This space-filling ‘visual audio play’ lets you experience as if you are back in time.

We created 8 binaural audio plays, all contained in small cases that’s not too present as to take away the look and feel of the schoolroom. It’s also powered by long-lasting Battery Audio Players that can be easily changed and charged without interruption of the show, so there’s no cables around. It can also be removed temporarily when there is a wedding in this location and placed back afterwards.”

“We tried to have the outside case as clean as possible, with just a single button on the top and a set of MKII Double Cup Headphones on the side. Workers can open the case using a key and can change the Battery Audio Player easily from there…. and the case doesn’t need to be moved at all. Audio files can also still be updated due to the cable being accessible.” 

The result is a clever use of our Battery Audio Players and Mark II Armoured Cable Headphones, avoiding the need to run power cables to the unique audio units designed to fit nicely with the old classroom aesthetic.