# What is this Screen in front of the speakers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751 "2012-11-12T04:41:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/1 "2012-11-12T04:41:45Z")
What’s that black screen thing in front of the speakers? [http://c6.nrostatic.com/uploaded/pic\_giant\_110712\_B.jpg](http://c6.nrostatic.com/uploaded/pic_giant_110712_B.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/2 "2012-11-12T04:44:03Z")
Teleprompter screen. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/3 "2012-11-12T04:44:12Z")
Teleprompter. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/4 "2012-11-12T05:17:14Z")
There’s a projector on the floor that is projecting his speech at the square mirror. On the screen his speech is broken out a few words on a line. As he speaks the lines move up and off the screen. He looks like he is glancing at the audience, but he is in fact looking at the TelePrompter’s projected image. This image can easily be read by the speaker without looking down at notes or a script. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/5 "2012-11-12T05:21:38Z")
Nitpick: it’s not a projector, but just an ordinary monitor, displaying the text in reverse, and the speaker sees the reflection. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/6 "2012-11-12T05:38:30Z")
Dang that’s pretty sweet. How come it appears to be translucent though? Why can’t we (the audience) see the text? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/7 "2012-11-12T05:42:58Z")
The two places where you could see the text would be from the speaker’s location, or from directly above the teleprompter. From your position in the audience, any reflections you see in the screen will be reflections of the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/8 "2012-11-12T17:17:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The two places where you could see the text would be from the speaker’s location, or from directly above the teleprompter. From your position in the audience, any reflections you see in the screen will be reflections of the ceiling. Exactly, because the [angle of incidence equals the angle of reflectance.](http://www.csupomona.edu/~bmhoeling/ReflectionMirrors/ReflectionMirrors3.html) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-screen-in-front-of-the-speakers/640751/9 "2012-11-12T18:08:12Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > Dang that’s pretty sweet. How come it appears to be translucent though? Why can’t we (the audience) see the text? The part you see is just a semi-transparent glass or plastic held at an angle. From the speaker’s vantage point, it reflects the display that’s sitting on the floor below it. They could use a mirror and it would provide a better view, but the audience would find that more intrusive and distracting.