Sound as a Gateway to the Past: Enhancing Cultural Heritage with Audio Augmented Reality through Bone Conduction in the Memorie Sonore Project

Sound plays a central role in shaping cultural heritage experiences, fostering a dynamic connection between past and present and enhancing visitor immersion through auditory engagement. Memorie Sonore project explores the use of bone conduction headphones to create immersive experiences through audio augmented reality in museum settings. Unlike traditional headphones, bone conduction devices rest on the cheekbones, transmitting sound directly to the inner ear while keeping the ear canal open. This unique feature enables the simultaneous perception of both actual and virtual sound layers, allowing historical audio reconstructions to merge with the surrounding acoustic environment. Developed within the Musei di Tutti network, the project reconstructs historical soundscapes across four key sites: Palazzo Vecchio and the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence, as well as the Archaeological Area and the Primo Conti Foundation in Fiesole. Visitors engage in interactive, spatialized audio experiences that integrate historically informed reconstructions, sound design, and original musical compositions. The onsite experience provides visitors with bone conduction headphones and an audio guide app, offering location-based soundscapes and narrative storytelling. To ensure historical accuracy, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and sound designers have collaborated closely. Techniques such as impulse response measurements, auralization, and binaural recording were employed to create spatially coherent and immersive soundscapes. The online component features a $\mathbf{3 6 0}$-degree audiovisual virtual tour, enabling global audiences to explore museum spaces through an immersive audio-visual experience. Unlike the onsite version, the online tour incorporates contemporary environmental sounds, bridging past and present soundscapes. Memorie Sonore fosters inclusive, multisensory access to cultural heritage, offering innovative ways to experience history through sound. Additionally, the project enhances accessibility for visually impaired visitors by using sound as a primary medium for spatial and narrative engagement.