Academic literature on the topic 'Auditory perspective'

This paper describes evaluation experiments for visual and auditory feedback in a virtual obstacle walking scenario. Two studies with healthy subjects were carried out using the actuated gait orthosis Lokomat. Controlled factors for the visual feedback experiment were three different perspectives and 2D/3D vision. In the auditory feedback experiment, controlled factors were rhythmic distance feedback and gradual foot clearance feedback. For the visual and auditory feedback experiments, outcome was assessed with task-specific performance parameters and questionnaires. Results for visual feedback indicate that the chosen side perspective is superior to behind and ego perspectives. It is also shown that 3D vision does not reduce the number of obstacle hits compared to 2D vision. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that adding continuous auditory feedback made subjects walk faster compared to the exclusive use of visual feedback. Subjects rated auditory distance feedback as more helpful than auditory foot clearance feedback. Therefore, we suggest using side perspective and auditory feedback on obstacle distance.

O ambiente de loja apresenta grande importância sobre a experiência de compra pelo consumidor. Nos últimos anos, a quantidade de estudos acerca da atmosfera de loja tem aumentado, com produção de pesquisas sobre os mais diversos elementos presentes no ambiente varejista: iluminação, aromas, atendimento, densidade, entre outros. Estudos já demonstraram que, para fins gerenciais, é importante que os varejistas compreendam como a percepção de crowding afeta a experiência de compra do consumidor, sendo necessário investigar formas de reduzir seus efeitos negativos e acentuar seus efeitos positivos. Para tanto, é importante que os gestores percebam o crowding sob uma abordagem multissensorial preocupando-se com todos os estímulos sensoriais que possam gerar a percepção de densidade elevada e consequente desconforto. Verifica-se, contudo, que a literatura existente sobre o assunto enfatiza, em sua maioria, a perspectiva visual do crowding, não havendo produção sobre o fenômeno abordado sob outros pontos de vista sensoriais. A audição é apresentada como um dos principais sentidos do ser humano, e, a partir disso, este artigo tem por objetivo sugerir uma abordagem mais completa para o estudo de crowding, enfatizando não apenas variáveis visuais que provocam a sensação do fenômeno, mas também as variáveis sonoras presentes em qualquer ambiente de loja e que podem exercer impacto sobre a percepção de crowding.

Purpose This review article provides a new perspective on the role of attention in auditory scene analysis. Method A framework for understanding how attention interacts with stimulus-driven processes to facilitate task goals is presented. Previously reported data obtained through behavioral and electrophysiological measures in adults with normal hearing are summarized to demonstrate attention effects on auditory perception—from passive processes that organize unattended input to attention effects that act at different levels of the system. Data will show that attention can sharpen stream organization toward behavioral goals, identify auditory events obscured by noise, and limit passive processing capacity. Conclusions A model of attention is provided that illustrates how the auditory system performs multilevel analyses that involve interactions between stimulus-driven input and top-down processes. Overall, these studies show that (a) stream segregation occurs automatically and sets the basis for auditory event formation; (b) attention interacts with automatic processing to facilitate task goals; and (c) information about unattended sounds is not lost when selecting one organization over another. Our results support a neural model that allows multiple sound organizations to be held in memory and accessed simultaneously through a balance of automatic and task-specific processes, allowing flexibility for navigating noisy environments with competing sound sources. Presentation Video http://cred.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2601618

There is a history of debate and controversy about the assessment and intervention of children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD). Professionals in communication sciences and disorders view APD from different perspectives. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) tend to view APD from the language and literacy perspective, or a top-down model, whereas audiologists tend to view APD from an auditory perception perspective, or a bottom-up model. Professionals who assess and treat children with APD need to bridge the gap and merge their different perspectives to plan effective intervention for children with APD. A panel of audiologists who demonstrated expertise in the area of Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPDs) developed The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA's) technical report on APDs (ASHA, 2005). This report was approved by ASHA's Executive board in 2005. In this report, central auditory processing refers to the efficiency and effectiveness by which the central nervous system uses auditory information. Central auditory processing includes the auditory mechanisms underlying the skills of sound localization and lateralization; auditory discrimination; auditory pattern recognition; temporal aspects of audition, including temporal integration, temporal discrimination, temporal ordering, and temporal masking; auditory performance in competing acoustic signals; and auditory performance with degraded acoustic signals (ASHA, 1996; Bellis, 2003; Chermak & Musiek, 1997; Jerger, 2009). A CAPD is a deficit in processing auditory input that is not due to higher-order language, cognitive, or related factors (Musiek, Bellis, & Chermak, 2005; Musiek & Chermak, 2007). However, children diagnosed with CAPD may experience difficulties in academic learning, speech, language, social skills, and literacy (e.g., encoding, decoding, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and written language).

Auditory hallucinations may be auditory flashbacks in much the same way as memories become isolated and flash back in PTSD. The positive approach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) with people with a diagnosis of severe mental illness is illustrated with work with one client.

Nell'apprezzare gli ambienti acustici, la percezione della distanza e cruciale tanto quanto la lateralizzazione. Ancorche sia stato condotto del lavoro di ricerca sulla percezione della distanza, i moderni display uditivi non traggono ancora vantag- gio da cio al ne di fornire dell'informazione addizionale sulla disposizione nello spazio delle sorgenti acustiche in modo da arricchirsi, di conseguenza, di contenuto e qualita. Quando si progetta un display uditivo si deve tener conto dell'obiettivo dell'applicazione data e delle risorse disponibili al ne di scegliere l'approccio ot- timale. In particolare, la resa della prospettiva acustica fornisce un ordinamento gerarchico delle sorgenti sonore e permette di focalizzare l'attenzione dell'utente sulla sorgente piu vicina. A parte cio, quando i dati visuali non sono piu disponibili in quanto al di fuori del campo visivo o perche l'utente e al buio, ovvero perche e bene non adoperarli per ridurre il carico sull'attenzione visiva, il rendering uditivo deve convogliare tutta l'informazione spaziale inclusa la distanza. Questo lavoro di ricerca intende studiare la profondita acustica (sorgenti sonore dislocate di fronte all'ascoltatore) in termini di percezione, resa, e applicazioni all'interazione uomo- macchina. Dapprima si propone una rassegna degli aspetti piu importanti della percezione uditiva della distanza. Le indagini sulla percezione della distanza sono molto piu avanzate nel campo della visione, in quanto hanno gia trovato applicazioni nelle tecnologie di visualizzazione. Da cio, sembrerebbe naturale fornire la stessa in- formazione nel dominio uditivo per aumentare il grado di realismo del display complessivo. La percezione della profondita di fatto puo essere facilitata combi- nando indizi visuali e uditivi. Vengono riportati alcuni risultati di rilievo della letteratura sugli eetti dell'interazione audio-visiva, e illustrati due esperimenti sulla percezione della profondita audio-visiva. In particolare, e stata indagata l'in uenza degli indizi uditivi sull'ordinamento visuo-spaziale percepito. I risultati mostrano che la manipolazione dell'intensita acustica non in uisce sulla percezione dell'ordinamento lungo l'asse della profondita, un'evidenza dovuta probabilmente alla mancanza di integrazione multisensoriale. Inoltre, introducendo un ritardo tra i due stimoli audiovisuali, il secondo esperimento ha rivelato un eetto legato all'ordine temporale dei due stimoli visivi. Tra le tecniche esistenti per la spazializzazione della sorgente acustica lungo la dimenzione della profondita esiste uno studio che ha proposto un modello di tubo virtuale, basato sull'esagerazione del riverbero all'interno di questo ambiente. La tecnica di progetto segue un approccio a modelli sici e fa uso della Digital Waveg- uide Mesh (DWM) rettangolare 3D, la quale ha gia evidenziato la sua capacita di simulare ambienti acustici complessi in larga scala. La DMW 3D e troppo aamata di risorse per la simulazione in tempo reale di ambienti 3D di dimensioni accetta- bili. Ancorche una decimazione possa aiutare a ridurre il carico computazionale sulla CPU, un'alternativa piu eciente e quella di adoperare un modello 2D che, conseguentemente, simula una membrana. Sebbene suoni meno naturale delle sim- ulazioni in 3D, lo spazio acustico bidimensionale risultante presenta proprieta simili specialmente rispetto alla resa della profondita. Questo lavoro di ricerca dimostra anche che l'acustica virtuale permette di plas- mare la percezione della distanza e, in particolare, di compensare la nota com- pressione delle stime soggettive di distanza. A tale scopo si e proposta una DWM bidimensionale trapezoidale come ambiente virtuale capace di fornire una relazione lineare tra distanza sica e percepita. Sono stati poi condotti tre test d'ascolto per misurarne la linearita. Peraltro essi hanno dato vita a una nuova procedura di test che deriva dal test MUSHRA, adatta a condurre un confronto diretto di distanze multiple. Nello specico essa riduce la variabilita della risposta a confronto della procedura di stima di grandezze dirette. Le implementazioni in tempo reale della DWM 2D rettangolare sono state re- alizzate in forma di oggetti \external" per Max/MSP. Il primo external per- mette di rendere una o piu sorgenti acustiche statiche dislocate a diverse dis- tanze dall'ascoltatore, mentre il secondo external simula una sorgente sonora in movimento lungo la dimensione della profondita, una sorgente cioe in avvicina- mento/allontanamento. Come applicazione del primo external e stata proposta un'interfaccia audio-tattile. L'interfaccia tattile comprende un sensore lineare di posizione fatto di materiale conduttivo. La posizione del tocco sulla fascetta viene mappata sulla posizione d'ascolto di una membrana virtuale rettangolare modellata dalla DWM 2D, la quale fornisce indizi di profondita per quattro sorgenti egualmente spaziate. In ag- giunta a cio si dopera la manopola di un controller MIDI per variare la posizione della membrana lungo l'elenco dei suoni, permettendo cos di passare in rassegna l'intero insieme di suoni muovendosi avanti e indietro lungo la nestra audio cos- tituita dalla membrana virtuale. I soggetti coinvolti nella valutazione d'uso hanno avuto successo nel trovare tutti i le audio deniti come target, cos come giudicato l'interfaccia intuitiva e gradevole. Inoltre e stata realizzata un'altra dimostrazione dell'interfaccia audio-tattile adoperando modelli sici per il suono. Suoni di es- perienza quotidiana derivanti da eventi quali \friggere", \bussare", \sgocciolare" sono stati adoperati in modo che sia la creazione del suono che la sua resa in profon- dita fossero il risultato di una sintesi per modelli sici, ipotizzando che l'approccio di tipo ecologico potesse fornire un'interazione di tipo intuitivo. Inne, \DepThrow" e un gioco audio basato sull'utilizzo della DWM 2D per ren- dere indizi di profondita di una sorgente acustica dinamica. Il gioco consiste nel lanciare una palla virtuale, modellata da un modello sico di suoni di rotolamento, all'interno di un tubo virtuale inclinato e aperto alle estremita, modellato da una DWM 2D. L'obiettivo e fare rotolare la palla quanto piu in la nel tubo senza farla cadere all'estremita lontana. Dimostrato come un gioco, questo prototipo e stato pensato anche come strumento per condurre indagini sulla percezione della dis- tanza dinamica. I risultati preliminari di un test d'ascolto condotto sulla percezione della distanza variabile all'interno del tubo virtuale, hanno mostrato che la durata del rotolamento della palla in uenza la stima della distanza raggiunta.
In our appreciation of auditory environments, distance perception is as crucial as lateralization. Although research work has been carried out on distance percep- tion, modern auditory displays do not yet take advantage of it to provide additional information on the spatial layout of sound sources and as a consequence enrich their content and quality. When designing a spatial auditory display, one must take into account the goal of the given application and the resources available in order to choose the optimal approach. In particular, rendering auditory perspec- tive provides a hierarchical ordering of sound sources and allows to focus the user attention on the closest sound source. Besides, when visual data are no longer available, either because they are out of the visual eld or the user is in the dark, or should be avoided to reduce the load of visual attention, auditory rendering must convey all the spatial information, including distance. The present research work aims at studying auditory depth (i.e. sound sources displayed straight ahead of the listener) in terms of perception, rendering and applications in human com- puter interaction. First, an overview is given of the most important aspects of auditory distance perception. Investigations on depth perception are much more advanced in vision since they already found applications in computer graphics. Then it seems nat- ural to give the same information in the auditory domain to increase the degree of realism of the overall display. Depth perception may indeed be facilitated by combining both visual and auditory cues. Relevant results from past literature on audio-visual interaction eects are reported, and two experiments were carried out on the perception of audio-visual depth. In particular, the in uence of auditory cues on the perceived visual layering in depth was investigated. Results show that auditory intensity manipulation does not aect the perceived order in depth, which is most probably due to the lack of multisensory integration. Besides, the second experiment, which introduced a delay between the two auditory-visual stimuli, re- vealed an eect of the temporal order of the two visual stimuli. Among existing techniques for sound source spatialization along the depth di- mension, a previous study proposed the modeling of a virtual pipe, based on the exaggeration of reverberation in such an environment. The design strategy follows a physics-based modeling approach and makes use of a 3D rectangular Digital Waveguide Mesh (DWM), which had already shown its ability to simulate complex, large-scale acoustical environments. The 3D DWM resulted to be too resource consuming for real-time simulations of 3D environments of decent size. While downsampling may help in reducing the CPU processing load, a more ef- cient alternative is to use a model in 2D, consequently simulating a membrane. Although sounding less natural than 3D simulations, the resulting bidimensional audio space presents similar properties, especially for depth rendering. The research work has also shown that virtual acoustics allows to shape depth perception and in particular to compensate for the usual compression of distance estimates. A trapezoidal bidimensional DWM is proposed as a virtual environment able to provide a linear relationship between perceived and physical distance. Three listening tests were conducted to assess the linearity. They also gave rise to a new test procedure deriving from the MUSHRA test and which is suitable for direct comparison of multiple distances. In particular, it reduces the response variability in comparison with the direct magnitude estimation procedure. Real-time implementations of the rectangular 2D DWM have been realized as Max/MSP external objects. The rst external allows to render in depth one or more static sound sources located at dierent distances from the listener, while the second external simulates one moving sound source along the depth dimension, i.e. an approaching/receding source. As an application of the rst external, an audio-tactile interface for sound naviga- tion has been proposed. The tactile interface includes a linear position sensor made by conductive material. The touch position on the ribbon is mapped onto the lis- tening position on a rectangular virtual membrane, modeled by the 2D DWM and providing depth cues of four equally spaced sound sources. Furthermore the knob of a MIDI controller controls the position of the mesh along the playlist, which allows to browse a whole set of les by moving back and forth the audio window resulting from the virtual membrane. Subjects involved in a user study succeeded in nding all the target les, and found the interface intuitive and entertaining. Furthermore, another demonstration of the audio-tactile interface was realized, using physics-based models of sounds. Everyday sounds of \frying", \knocking" and \liquid dripping" are used such that both sound creation and depth rendering are physics-based. It is believed that this ecological approach provides an intuitive interaction. Finally, \DepThrow" is an audio game, based on the use of the 2D DWM to render depth cues of a dynamic sound source. The game consists in throwing a virtual ball (modeled by a physics-based model of rolling sound) inside a virtual tube (modeled by a 2D DWM) which is open-ended and tilted. The goal is to make the ball roll as far as possible in the tube without letting it fall out at the far end. Demonstrated as a game, this prototype is also meant to be a tool for investi- gations on the perception of dynamic distance. Preliminary results of a listening test on the perception of distance motion in the virtual tube showed that duration of the ball's movement in uences the estimation of the distance reached by the rolling ball.

Hallucinations are often considered a sign of psychotic illness, but are also common in other diagnostic groups and individuals without mental health problems. This thesis uses Perceptual Control Theory (PCT), a cybernetic model which explains behaviour and cognition in terms of control processes regulating ongoing perception according to internally represented goals, as a theoretical framework to understand hallucinations. First, a theoretical/conceptual paper (Paper 1) examines how PCT provides an integrated account of (i) the mechanisms responsible for the formation of hallucinations, (ii) their phenomenological heterogeneity, (iii) the interaction between these mechanisms and environmental factors that might contribute to the formation of hallucinations, and (iv) the processes leading to different affective reactions to hallucinatory experiences (e.g. distress). The main implications of this model are discussed in the context of pertinent theoretical and empirical literature, and relevant clinical and research implications are considered. Second, this thesis includes an empirical investigation (Paper 2) examining two PCT-informed hypotheses in a cross-section of 22 clinical and 18 non-clinical individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations (“hearing voices”), namely (i) that the content of voices will be thematically linked to the participants’ personal goals, and (ii) that affective reactions to voices will depend on the extent to which voices facilitate and/or interfere with important personal goals. The analysis revealed that 82.5% of participants reported voices that thematically matched at least one of their reported goals. As predicted, affective reactions to voices were strongly associated with measures of interference and facilitation of goals, even when controlling for important covariates (e.g. participants’ history of mental health difficulties; voices’ content, frequency and duration).Finally, a critical evaluation is provided (Paper 3), where the methodological strengths and limitations of the work presented in the present thesis are discussed with the aim to reflect on the research process, and inform future investigations into the topics considered in this thesis.

An integrated system providing dynamic control of sound source azimuth, distance and proximity to a room boundary within a simulated acoustic space is proposed for use in multichannel music and film sound production. The system has been investigated, implemented, and psychoacoustically tested within the ITU-R BS.775 recommended five-channel (3/2) loudspeaker layout. The work brings together physical and perceptual models of room simulation to allow dynamic placement of virtual sound sources at any location of a simulated space within the horizontal plane.
The control system incorporates a number of modules including simulated room modes, "fuzzy" sources, and tracking early reflections, whose parameters are dynamically changed according to sound source location within the simulated space. The control functions of the basic elements, derived from theories of perception of a source in a real room, have been carefully tuned to provide efficient, effective, and intuitive control of a sound source's perceived location.
Seven formal listening tests were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm design choices. The tests evaluated: (1) loudness calibration of multichannel sound images; (2) the effectiveness of distance control; (3) the resolution of distance control provided by the system; (4) the effectiveness of the proposed system when compared to a commercially available multichannel room simulation system in terms of control of source distance and proximity to a room boundary; (5) the role of tracking early reflection patterns on the perception of sound source distance; (6) the role of tracking early reflection patterns on the perception of lateral phantom images.
The listening tests confirm the effectiveness of the system for control of perceived sound source distance, proximity to room boundaries, and azimuth, through fine, dynamic adjustment of parameters according to source location. All of the parameters are grouped and controlled together to create a perceptually strong impression of source location and movement within a simulated space.

Corporate sound as a company-controlled element of corporate identity management has been widely ignored in corporate identity and corporate image literature so far. Moreover, established corporate identity models show some visual dominance that has inhibited the integration of other sensory elements such as the auditory dimension. This thesis advances current knowledge in the corporate identity, corporate image and corporate communication domain by investigating the construct of auditory identity from a corporate perspective. In detail, the study investigates factors that determine the management of auditory identity as well as consequences of corporate auditory identity management (CAIM) as perceived by managers. A triangulated research approach was employed by using qualitative data from interviews with managers and consultants from UK companies as well as quantitative data from questionnaires completed by managers from UK companies in the media, information and communication as well as the banking and finance industry. While qualitative data initially was used to gain deeper understanding of the underresearched auditory topic, quantitative data was statistically examined using EFA and PLS-SEM to test the structural model. Findings suggest, inter alia, that the definition of corporate auditory identity provided in this research is widely supported by qualitative data. Moreover, quantitate data indicates that the support of the CEO is a key factor for the successful implementation of an auditory identity programme. Furthermore, all ten consequences of corporate auditory identity management such as gaining differentiation, improving corporate image, supporting consistent corporate communication and increasing recognisability just to name few are widely supported by qualitative as well as quantitative data. This thesis advances corporate identity, corporate image and communication literature in many ways. Mainly, it provides a valid definition of the new construct of auditory identity as well as scales for measuring corporate auditory identity management on which researchers can build in the future. Based on the identified potential of corporate sound academics are encouraged to overcome the visual dominance by incorporating auditory identity into future concepts, frameworks and models. Moreover, managers can benefit from this research and the provided definition of auditory identity in particular as it reduces the uncertainty about the auditory domain and suggests a more holistic view of corporate identity management. Additionally, this study provides managers with a deeper understanding of the potential of corporate sound by testing a set of consequences of auditory identity management. Consequently, managers are advised to employ a more strategic management of sonic elements and applications in the future. To sum up, this research is one of the first that investigates the management of sound from a corporate perspective and the researcher strongly believes that it constitutes a foundation that facilitates a variety of avenues for research.

The main focus for this thesis was cross-modal attention capture by sudden and unexpected sounds and vibrations, known as deviants, presented in a stream the same to-be-ignored stimulus. More specifically, the thesis takes a multisensory perspective and examines the possible similarities and differences in how deviant vibrations and sounds affect visual task performance (Study I), and whether the deviant and standard stimuli have to be presented within the same modality to capture attention away from visual tasks (Study II). Furthermore, by presenting spatial deviants (changing the source of the stimuli from one side of the body to the other) in audiotactile (bimodal), tactile, and auditory to-be-ignored, it explores whether bimodal stimuli are more salient compared to unimodal (Study III). In addition, Study III tested the claims that short-term memory is domain-specific. In line with previous research, Study I found that both auditory and tactile deviants captured attention away from the visual task. However, the temporal dynamics between the two modalities seem to differ. That is, it seems like practice causes the effect of vibratory deviants to reduce, whereas this is not the case for auditory deviants. This suggests that there are central mechanisms (detection of the change) and sensory-specific mechanisms. Study II found that the deviant and standard stimuli must be presented within the same modality. If attention capture by deviants is produced by a mismatch within a neural model predicting upcoming stimuli, the neural model is likely built on stimuli within each modality separately. The results of Study III revealed that spatial and verbal short-term memory are negatively affected by a spatial change in to-be-ignored sequences, but only when the change is within a bimodal sequence. These results can be taken as evidence for a unitary account of short-term memory (verbal and spatial information stored in the same storage) and that bimodal stimuli may be integrated into a unitary percept that make any change in the stream more salient.

The aims of this study were to explore professionals’ and clients’ experiences of diagnosis and treatment of auditory verbal hallucinations with a view to identifying important clinical issues for counselling psychologists. Six professionals, three psychologists and three psychiatrists, who had worked with people who hear voices, alongside four clients who hear voices, volunteered and participated in a semi-structured interview. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as described by Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009). A table of super-ordinate and sub-ordinate themes was created as a result of this analysis. A number of themes arose from both groups of participants’ experiences. The main themes that arose for the professionals was: professional ambivalence; varying theories on causes of voices; perspectives on diagnosis and formulation; perspectives on medication; thoughts on working therapeutically; and, thinking on recovery. The themes that arose from the clients’ experiences were feelings about diagnosis and experiences of treatment. This research concludes that there is professional ambivalence in working with people who hear voices that is caused by a lack of certainty about the causes of the phenomenon alongside a lack of training in working with clients who have symptoms of psychosis. This impacts clients in several ways. The clients in this study were not offered the option to have any involvement in their own care and none of them were offered therapy as a treatment option. The study also concludes that psychiatric diagnosis does not consider all pertinent information related to clients’ issues which can lead to inconsistency in the diagnosis of clients who hear voices.

AbstractThe relationships between the listener, physical world, and virtual environment (VE) should not only inspire the design of natural multimodal interfaces but should be discovered to make sense of the mediating action of VR technologies. This chapter aims to transform an archipelago of studies related to sonic interactions in virtual environments (SIVE) into a research field equipped with a first theoretical framework with an inclusive vision of the challenges to come: the egocentric perspective of the auditory digital twin. In a VE with immersive audio technologies implemented, the role of VR simulations must be enacted by a participatory exploration of sense-making in a network of human and non-human agents, called actors. The guardian of such locus of agency is the auditory digital twin that fosters intra-actions between humans and technology, dynamically and fluidly redefining all those configurations that are crucial for an immersive and coherent experience. The idea of entanglement theory is here mainly declined in an egocentric spatial perspective related to emerging knowledge of the listener’s perceptual capabilities. This is an actively transformative relation with the digital twin potentials to create movement, transparency, and provocative activities in VEs. The chapter contains an original theoretical perspective complemented by several bibliographical references and links to the other book chapters that have contributed significantly to the proposal presented here.

For more than twenty-five years, the sonification field has been attempting to establish itself as a primary body of knowledge communicating through sound. Despite multiple efforts to embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the field and the subjective nature of sound, we wonder: is the tendency for dealing with such challenges through an objective, functional communication, with a single interpretation criterion, limiting the epistemic boundaries of action? How can a subjectively perceived medium such as sound be embraced in all its aesthetic dimensions? We propose a conceptual transition through the reframing of a sonification as a living system for creating aesthetic experiences. This will be achieved by drawing notions from phenomenology, embodied perception, human-computer interaction and soundscape theory. A systemic sonification distinguishes itself as an ever-evolving system built on dynamic structures that actively responds to changes in its environment and interactions from surrounding beings. Driven by a series of emerging concepts of non-linearity, networks, nested systems and intertwined relationships, the system’s resilience and adaptability grows with each interaction, recentring the human protagonist as the weaver of his/her aesthetic experience through a self-transcendent process that expands the perception field.

Does it make sense to sonify information that refers to an already audible phenomenon such as prosodic data? In order to be useful, a sonification of prosody should contribute to the comprehension of paralinguistic features that may not otherwise attract the attention of the listener. Within this context, this paper illustrates a modular and flexible framework for the reduction and processing of prosodic data to be used for enhancing the perception of a speaker's intention, attitude and emotions. The model uses speech audio as input and provides MIDI and MusicXML data as output so allowing samplers and notation software to auralize and display the information. The described architecture has been subjectively tested by the author over many years in compositions for solo instruments, ensembles and orchestra. Two outcomes of the research are discussed: the advantages of an adaptive strategy for data reduction, and the auditory display of the deep pitch and temporal structures underlying prosodic processing.

Sonification with musical characteristics can engage users, and this dynamic carries value as a mediator between data and human perception, analysis, and interpretation. A user engagement study has been designed to measure engagement levels from conditions within primarily melodic, rhythmic, and chordal contexts. This paper reports findings from the melodic portion of the study, and states the challenges of using musical characteristics in sonifications via the perspective of form and function – a long standing debate in Human-Computer Interaction. These results can guide the design of more complex sonifications of multivariable data suitable for real life use.

Spatial impression is a widely researched topic in concert hall acoustics and spatial audio display. In order to provide the listener with plausible spatial impression in virtual and augmented reality applications, especially in the 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) context, it is first important to understand how humans perceive various acoustical cues from different listening perspectives in a real space. This paper presents a fundamental subjective study conducted on the perception of spatial impression for multiple listener positions and orientations. An in-situ elicitation test was carried out using the repertory grid technique in a reverberant concert hall. Cluster analysis revealed a number of conventional spatial attributes such as source width, environmental width and envelopment. However, reverb directionality and echo perception were also found to be salient spatial properties associated with changes in the listener’s position and head orientation.

Sonification of geospatial data must situate data values in two (or three) dimensional space. The need to position data values in space distinguishes geospatial data from other multi-dimensional data sets. While cartographers have extensive experience preparing geospatial data for visual display, the use of sonification is less common. Beyond availability of tools or visual bias, an incomplete understanding of the implications of parameter mappings that cross conceptual data categories limits the application of sonification to geospatial data. To catalyze the use of audio in cartography, this paper explores existing examples of parameter mapping sonification through the framework of the geographic data cube. More widespread adoption of auditory displays would diversify map design techniques, enhance accessibility of geospatial data, and may also provide new perspective for application to non-geospatial data sets.

Free-field auditory medical alarms, although widely present in intensive care units, have created many hazards for both patients and clinicians in this environment. The harsh characteristics of the alarm noise profile combined with the frequency at which they sound throughout the ICU have created discomfort for the patients and contribute to psychological problems, such as PTSD and delirium. This frequency-selective silencing device seeks to attenuate these problems by removing the alarm sounds from the patient perspective. Patients do not need to hear these alarms as the alarms primarily serve to alert clinicians; therefore, this device, using a Raspberry Pi and digital filters, removes the alarm sounds present in the environment while transmitting other sounds to the patient without distortion. This allows for patients to hear everything occurring around them and to communicate effectively without experiencing the negative consequences of audible alarms.

This position paper suggests a novel approach to enhancing productivity for professionals whose core business is deep thinking, by manipulation of the sonic environment. Approaching the issue from the perspective of sound-design, it proposes the composition and algorithmic generation of background soundscapes that promote a psychological state of flow [1], and can become mentally associated with particular tasks through exposure, so as to facilitate task switching by switching soundscapes. These background soundscapes are intended to mask distracting clatter, oppressive quiet, and other suboptimal sonic environments frequently encountered in office workplaces. Consequently, I call them active-silences— soundscapes designed to be not heard, although they may be relatively loud. The most commonly used active-silence is white noise, though there are surprisingly diverse other approaches to crafting active-silence. This variety suggests the possibility of training associations that pair distinct active-silences with distinct mental tasks.

People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are known to have difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions, which affects their social integration. Leveraging the recent advances in interactive robot and music therapy approaches, and integrating both, we have designed musical robots that can facilitate social and emotional interactions of children with ASD. Robots communicate with children with ASD while detecting their emotional states and physical activities and then, make real-time sonification based on the interaction data. Given that we envision the use of multiple robots with children, we have adopted a client-server architecture. Each robot and sensing device plays a role as a terminal, while the sonification server processes all the data and generates harmonized sonification. After describing our goals for the use of sonification, we detail the system architecture and on-going research scenarios. We believe that the present paper offers a new perspective on the sonification application for assistive technologies.

In this paper, I offer a perspective into a creative research practice I have come to term as Ecological Performativity. This practice has evolved from a number of non-linear audiovisual installations that are intrinsically linked to geographical and everyday phenomena. The project is situated in ecological discourse that seeks to explore conditions and methods of co-creative processes derived from an intensive data-gathering procedure and immersion within the respective environments. Through research the techniques explored include computer vision, data sonification, live convolution and improvisation as a means to engage the agency of material and thus construct non-linear audiovisual installations. To contextualize this research, I have recently reoriented my practice within recent critical, theoretical, and philosophical discourses emerging in the humanities, sciences and social sciences generally referred to as ‘the nonhuman turn’. These trends currently provide a reassessment of the assumptions that have defined our understanding of the geo-conjunctures that make up life on earth and, as such, challenge the long-standing narrative of human exceptionalism. It is out of this reorientation that the practice of Ecological Performativity has evolved.