From visitor experiences to content production, Audio-Technica equipment has become integral to the National Communications Museum's operations.
Communication shapes how we connect, share ideas, and preserve history, and the National Communications Museum (NCM) explores nearly two centuries of that evolution.
Methods of communication continue to shift at a dizzying pace. Send someone a reel today, and you’re communicating differently than you would have just a decade ago. Technology reshapes connection faster than ever before. The National Communication Museum in Melbourne exists at the intersection of these ideas. A small, not-for-profit institution, NCM comes with a big mission: to show where communication technology comes from, where it is now, and where it’s heading. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Emily Siddons, the museum marries art and technology through exhibitions, programs, and creative innovation.
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Based in Hawthorn, NCM is fittingly housed in a historic 1939 telephone exchange building that’s been transformed into a space where the structure itself tells part of the story by award-winning architects. The museum features a heritage telecommunications collection dating back to the 1850s, assembled over more than 60 years by volunteers across Australia. This collection sits alongside contemporary technologies, interactive installations, and commissioned artworks that explore how communication tools have evolved across nearly two centuries.
The audio behind the experience
An innovative museum like NCM needs technology that can keep up—namely, audio equipment. Audio-Technica equipment has become integral to the museum’s operations, from visitor experiences to educational programs and content production. Exhibition spaces rely heavily on Audio-Technica headphones for personal listening experiences, allowing visitors to engage with individual audio content in shared spaces without interference.
Photo: Marie Luise, courtesy of the National Communication Museum (NCM)
FRIEND is NCM’s latest temporary exhibition, exploring the relationship between humans and machines. As the line between people and technology blurs, what can the quest to connect teach us about being human—and how does it shape our bodies and worlds?
Throughout the exhibition, Audio-Technica ATH-ANC900BT noise-cancelling headphones create a consistent, cinematic listening experience across multiple installations. NCM chose this model specifically for its noise-cancelling performance and deep-bass accuracy, which support the exhibition’s “slow engagement” philosophy, one which encourages intimate, one-on-one encounters with robotics, objects, and artworks. The headphones allow visitors to fully immerse themselves in individual experiences without disturbing others—essential in an open museum environment where multiple installations run simultaneously.
Ryohei Murakami, FRIEND Exhibition Designer, says: “The incorporation of Audio-Technica headphones into the exhibition allowed me to introduce privacy to these interactions, bringing visitors into their own personal conversation without the worry of sound bleed or disruption from ambient noise”.
Photo: Marie Luise, courtesy of the National Communication Museum (NCM)
The NCM Seminar Room is one of the museum’s busiest public program spaces, hosting artist talks, panel discussions, and workshops. Audio-Technica is key to this room’s success. An ATND1061 beamforming ceiling microphone clearly captures both presenters and audiences, while a network of 3000-Series wireless systems supports flexible event formats with lapel, handheld, and lectern microphones.
Audio-Technica ceiling speakers driven through a Q-Sys amp provide spatial audio for screenings and artist film presentations. This setup enables high-quality livestreaming, hybrid meetings, and accessible in-room sound reinforcement, ensuring questions, conversations, and interactions are captured and heard with clarity.
NCM’s podcast studio relies on Audio-Technica equipment to support the museum’s growing catalogue of recorded interviews, curator conversations, and behind-the-scenes content. Professional-grade Audio-Technica microphones and monitoring headphones deliver clear, isolated audio. The setup includes shock mounts, stands, and balanced XLR cabling to reduce handling noise and maintain a clean signal path.
Bridging past and future
For a museum dedicated to communication, audio quality isn’t just a technical consideration—it’s fundamental. Poor audio would undermine the very story the museum tells about humanity’s drive to connect and be understood. Audio-Technica’s professional equipment ensures the message comes through clearly, whether visitors are experiencing the exhibitions through headphones, attending seminars in the public program space, or engaging with podcast content that extends the museum’s reach beyond its walls.
NCM reminds us that the tools we take for granted today will become tomorrow’s heritage collection. Every leap in communication technology, from analogue to digital, from wired to wireless, represents another chapter in humanity’s ongoing conversation with itself. Audio-Technica supporting the museum’s operations is part of that story too, enabling the kind of clear, reliable communication that brings the past into conversation with the present.
The National Communication Museum is located in Hawthorn, Melbourne, where the building itself, a repurposed 1939 telephone exchange, serves as the first exhibit. It’s a fitting home for an institution exploring how we connect while preserving communication history and embracing the technologies shaping our future.
