Another technique IRCAM is developing uses scores of small speakers lined up around the concert hall to create something called wave field synthesis, or WFS. It was designed to address a problem that's been brought to IRCAM over and over again: dead spots in concert halls.

NPR: IRCAM: The Quiet House Of Sound

Inside the Methodist Central Hall, the speakers were greeted with regular applause during each of the numerous attacks on the government and its proposals.

BBC: Protestors want the government to change its policies

Built 93 years ago by a group of suffragists, the venue was designed as a speakers' hall in an era before microphones were standard.

WSJ: Brighter Lights for Town Hall

They slid off their slippers at the door, and, their stiff bodies swaying momentarily beneath the weight, placed the speakers, each taller than Father, in the middle of the hall.

NEWYORKER: Naima