Fischer's music-enhancing face mask has two
plastic cups shaped liked life-size palms attached to the mask's
strings and designed to fit around the wearer's ears, allowing
concertgoers in the age of coronavirus to enjoy improved
acoustics.
"I got to this idea that it should look like a hand because when
we put our hands here..." he said, cupping his palms around his
ears, "... we always understand the other person easier, we hear
the consonants, and the music sounds much more beautiful."
Speaking as the orchestra rehearsed for an evening of Beethoven
and Strauss, Fischer - the chief of the Budapest Festival
Orchestra - said his masks help to emulate church acoustics,
with warmer undertones and clearer, sharper contours.
Fischer's invention is proving popular with concertgoers, with
dozens of people wearing the mask as they took their seats at
Friday's performance.
The acoustic mask, which costs 8,000 forints ($27) if ordered
through the orchestra's website, comes in glittery and black and
white versions.
Audience member Zsuzsa Hunyadi-Zoltan said the sound was
"clearly better" with the special mask in place.
"It focused the music more. I tried it, I took it off and put it
back on and one can clearly feel the difference," she said.
(Writing by Marton Dunai; Editing by Helen Popper)
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