Academic literature on the topic 'Sound immersion phenomenon'

The article analyzes the phenomenon of “Trumpism,” which brought hopes for its renewal and expectation of changes into traditional American politics. “Trumpism” swung at the power of the Deep State and showed America that it is historically, mentally, culturally, and economically fragmented. The paternalism of American democrats toward a certain part of the country’s population, which Trump positions as “communism,” opposes the true America, which is personified by the states of the “rusty belt” and its working class. “Trumpism” sees the true rebirth of America in a policy of sound national egoism and in America’s focus on itself. For opponents of President Donald Trump, his return to power means another immersion of the ruling elite in the fight against many unknown things, when the political “behind the scenes” has already come out of the shadows and has shown its actual goals.

The expansion of the digital integration mode of contemporary digital cinema from creation to projection and the change of cinematic language both herald the breakthrough of technology once again and the opening of a new era of digital cinematic art. From the aesthetic point of view, digital cinema has overturned and dismantled some of the theoretical essentials and important concepts of traditional film aesthetics about film ontology, and the changes and progress of digital cinema’s generation principle, audiovisual environment and media properties have profoundly influenced film art creation and audiences’ aesthetic approach. Digital reproduction and regeneration can realistically simulate reality and transcend reality to construct the story world in film, forming a higher level of aesthetic composition and aesthetic concept. The innovation of film media and the transformation of digital film machines enable audiences to develop an embodied experience at a super close distance or without distance, thus falling into the “immersion of the here and now” and “playable story”. The digital anthropomorphic film phenomenon experience and the immersive viewing mode of multimedia sound and image have perfectly realized the freedom and transcendence of digital film aesthetic experience and become an important force to promote the development and evolution of film aesthetics. It is the original purpose of this dissertation to explore the relationship between digital film technology development and film aesthetic discourse under the new digital technology conditions, to sort out the aesthetic implications and aesthetic characteristics of digital films, to explain the film concepts and aesthetic issues in the digital era, and to try to complete the systematic construction of contemporary digital technology film aesthetics.

Today, some of the most widely attended concerts are in virtual reality (VR). For example, the videogame Fortnite recently attracted 12.3 million viewers sitting in homes all over the world to a VR Travis Scott rap concert. As such VR concerts become increasingly ubiquitous, we are presented with an opportunity to design more immersive virtual experiences by augmenting VR with other multisensory technologies. Given that sound is a multi-modal phenomenon that can be experienced sonically and vibrationally, we investigated the importance of haptic feedback to musical experiences using a combination of qualitative and empirical methodologies. Study 1 was a qualitative study demonstrating that, unlike their live counterparts, current VR concerts make it harder for audiences to form a connection with artists and their music. Furthermore, VR concerts lack multisensory feedback and are perceived as less authentic than live concert experiences. Participants also identified a variety of different kinds of touch that they receive at live concerts and suggested that ideal VR concerts would replicate physical touch and thermal feedback from the audience, emotional touch, and vibrations from the music. Specifically, users advocated for the use of haptic devices to increase the immersiveness of VR concert experiences. Study 2 isolated the role of touch in the music listening experience and empirically investigated the impact of haptic music players (HMPs) on the audio-only listening experience. An empirical, between-subjects study was run with participants either receiving vibrotactile feedback via an HMP (haptics condition) or no vibrotactile feedback (control) while listening to music. Results indicated that listening to music while receiving vibrotactile feedback increased participants’ sense of empathy, parasocial bond, and loyalty towards the artist, while also decreasing participants’ feelings of loneliness. The connection between haptics condition and these dependent variables was mediated by the feeling of social presence. Study 2 thus provides initial evidence that HMPs may be used to meet people’s need for connection, multisensory immersion, and complex forms of touch in VR concerts as identified in Study 1.

COVID-19 dynamics and measures to control the pandemic have worldwide caused a high amount of mental and affective disturbances. Particularly children and adolescents have been confronted with home-schooling, domestic violence, social isolation and loneliness, existential issues, as well as the experience of multifaceted panicmongering and related pathological reactions. Although estimated prevalence rates of COVID-19 associated mental disorders vary across studies, there is a statistical tendency suggesting that about one third of the younger population exhibits serious psychiatric issues. As this quantity goes beyond the capacity of institutionalised psychiatric care, new models combining education and therapy are needed and are challenging today’s school systems. In Germany the COPSY study provided differential diagnostic data, and a music educational study used meta-synthetic methods to construct robust hypotheses which are considered stronger than usual hypotheses, but still need follow-up studies to explore underlying mechanisms and to estimate effect sizes. The related music-health-educational framework covers six key areas: (i) creative interaction to treat ‘coronanxiety’, (ii) focal listening to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorders, (iii) vocal immersion to improve psychosomatic self-regulation, (iv) sound scene improvisation to enhance self-actualisation and relieve learned helplessness, (v) artistic expression to support coping processes and communication skills and (vi) the ‘Beloved Augustin phenomenon’ concerning the positive impact of arts and joy on the immune system. Actually these approaches are being examined for application in China, alongside socio-cultural adaptations, qualitative research and neuroscientific studies on underlying mechanisms.

When Jeremy Soule, composer for some of the most well-known video game franchises in the world such as Guild Wars and The Elder Scrolls, was accused of sexual misconduct by women in the gaming industry in 2019, the internet hosted reactions from several fronts. From questioning the victims’ credibility to taking a neutral position while waiting for further development, gamers and fans made use of digital platforms to express either concern, astonishment, or doubt; these reactions point to the significant symbolic capital that Soule possesses in the context of video game music. The Elder Scrolls franchise, and in particular Skyrim, is highly recognized for its soundtracks, and this franchise has given rise to the largest mods community to date. In previous research, I examined this mods community in order to consider music and sound in relation to immersion and modification in Elder Scrolls games. Since the data collected in that earlier research was limited to a time span until 2017, the recent developments concerning composer Jeremy Soule weren’t addressed in that earlier setting. However, these allegations were part of a larger phenomenon of awareness and public exposure of negative and abusive practices in several labor contexts in the video game industry, shedding some light on a much-needed discussion about sexism and mistreatment toward women and nonbinary professionals in these fields and raising some pertinent questions concerning users’ feedback and engagement. This article aims to discuss the possible impacts these accusations had on the relationship between Soule’s music and users in the mods community, including users’ overviews of their own personal affective engagement with the games, thus verifying the deep connection between music, interactivity, authorship and gamer identity.

Background. As it is well-known from the statements by O. Messiaen himself in conversations with K. Samuel [10; 7], the French composer had the phenomenon of “colored hearing” associated with the effect of synesthesia. A prerequisite in modern performing art, as in the work of a musicologistresearcher, is the introduction to the worldview of an author-composer. The study of Messiaen’s synesthetic associations helps the interpreter to expand his timbre range in connecting with emotional “immersion” in the essence of the work, and the researcher of his music – to interpret correctly (often – to “decipher”) and convey to the listener the author’s intention. That why consideration of the synesthetic aspect of the works of the French Master appears relevant. The purpose of this study is to reveal some features of the musical-visual ideas of O. Messiaen, the understanding of which is necessary for adequate perception and reproduction of his music. The material of the work is, mainly, the composer’s own statements, on which the generalizations made in the article based, and which the main conductors in the infinite multicolor spiritual world of the French composer are. The studies results. The child impressions, when Olivier together with his parents visited monuments, museums, churches – the Notre-Dame, the SaintChapel, the Chartres Cathedral, the Cathedral in Bourge – became the sources of the sound-color visions of the French genius. Magical colors of the MiddleAges stained glasses left an amazing feeling, an imprint, which did not disappear during his whole life. Stained-glasses as “the light, captured by the human” [7] are the constant awe and the love of O. Messiaen. In childhood, while reading W. Shakespeare, Olivier made stained glass-like scenery using transparent wrappers and packaging materials painted in different colors, then put the decorations to the windows. The sunshine, going through them, was lightening the little boy’s theater like the footlights. Later, the light, as something Divine, will become the main semantic emphasis in the works of the composer. Messiaen puts the color music above the church and religious, the color music, according him, does the same as medieval stained glass: “it brings us blinding admiration .... All sacred art ... should be, first of all, something like a rainbow of sounds and colors” [6]. Like a stained glass window consists of pieces of glass, so music consists of “pieces-cadres”, but, unlike cinematic montage, a stained glass has a mystical nature. From the inside, a stained glass shows one picture of the world, from the outside – another; it is a rosy view of the world and, at the same time, a prism, through which one can see the musical diversity. So, for O. Messiaen, the basis of the foundations is a religion related closely to philosophy; they serve music, and music serves the color music. A musicologist K. Zenkin defines the color music of O. Messiaen as the highest form of sacred music, as “the answer of human to God” [2, p. 171]. Being 11 and having become a student of Paris Conservatory, Olivier for the first time heard the opera by his teacher, Paul Dukas, “Ariadne and Bluebeard”. Messiaen was amazed by the episodes, where the main heroine consistently opens seven doors and finds herself in seven halls, filled with seven different kinds of precious stones; each one was characterized by different tone and timbre. Later, O. Messian continued the searches of his teacher in area of color-sound. About incredible enjoyment by the color the composer says in connection with painter-orphist Robert Delaunay, calling his paintings “colored dreams”. In the pictures of latter, he was most attracted by the principle of simultaneous contrast. The concept of “simultaneous contrast” refers to the phenomenon, in which our eyes, perceiving any color, involuntarily require a different color addition. For example, red requires green, yellow – purple, since these colors are diametrically opposed to each other on the color wheel, etc. If there is no such addition, the eye can simultaneously find (generate) it. As O. Messian had such rare natural quality as synesthesia, while listening to music, in his imagination different colors, corresponding to different sounds, appeared. Borrowing the painting principle of the simultaneous contrast, the composer applied it in his musical works, for example, in chord constructions. Messian’s “colour hearing” was connected not with tones, like to N. Rimsky-Korsakov or A. Skryabin, but with chords. Chords, in understanding of French composer, are the analogues of colors; changing of the chords leads to the changing of the colors and its patterns. The composer is characterized by the “vertical” perception of the sound-color range, but the “chord” factor does not exhaust his color perception, since O. Messiaen operates with the frets, which he calls “systems”. Each system is associated with a specific coloring of sounds. Colors and sounds are arranged for him on the principle of gamma. In the color scheme of O. Messiaen, there is no yellow color, instead of it an orange-golden one is introduced. Especially the composer likes violet or lilac color, belonging to the category of complex, which includes extremely cold blue and extremely warm red. This color has a lot of shades: with the dominance of red-scarlet, with the dominance of blue-hyacinth. In the Middle Ages, in the symbolism of stained glass windows, the first one identified Love to Truth, and the latter – Truth of Love. O. Messian perceived the laws of the universe through the prism of “infinite colors”. For the composer, painting becomes the basis of his artistic method and generates musical images. He felt the colors in the music by the “inner vision”. The subjective vision of sound colors was using by O. Messiaen in the process of creating musical canvases, called, in its turn, to affect the “inner vision” of the listeners.

Statement of the problem. The musical language of Ukrainian composers of the XX–XXI centuries is a complex and rather poorly studied field in modern musicology. This phenomenon raises many questions due to the diversity of styles, forms, and individual expressive systems of composers. Music for chamber ensemble vividly reflects the significant transformations in the artistic perception owned to our era. This musical context includes the work of the Ukrainian composer Yuriі Valentynovych Shevchenko (1953–2022), an outstanding figure in the national musical culture. The composer’s work is considered mainly in the journalistic discourse (Sushchenko, 2006; Cherdintseva, 2003, etc.). In recent scientific publications devoted to Shevchenko’s work, the authors (Aksiutina, 2022; Sadovenko, 2023; Tarasenko, 2008) focus on the analysis of the composer’s ballet music. The study by V. Stepurko (2023) helps to come closer to understanding the composer’s creative narratives: “... the author in his work aims to find the hidden philosophical depths of fairy-tale “worlds” as a sign and sound space. His works use various musical means of expression, but structured according to classical models, they are strikingly full of modern philosophical ideas, the search for humanistic postulates to solve the problems of humanity” (Stepurko, 2023: 132). However, a comprehensive musicological consideration of chamber and instrumental works remains outside the attention of researchers that determines the relevance of this publication. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of this article is to reveal expressive means and stylistic features of Yu. Shevchenko’s chamber and instrumental music using the example of “Three Ukrainian Songs” for string orchestra. The named works have not yet been the subject of a special musicological analysis. The following methods were used in the study: historical, system-analytical, comparative, and hermeneutic, as well as a complex of specific musicological methods: structural-functional, semantic, musical-dramaturgical, timbre and textural analysis (for considering the musical form in its dynamics, the artistic expressiveness of harmonic, polyphonic, melodic and rhythmic means; when studying the orchestral score for revealing the specifics of the use of timbre colours of instruments). Research results and conclusion. In the process of implementing the symbolic program of the “Three Ukrainian Songs” for string orchestra, the principle of sound painting and the thematic meaning of rhythm get an important role. Audio-visual effects are achieved through the combination of timbres of various instruments and the use of special ways. The creation of sound perspective and the effect of spatiality are facilitated by polyphonic techniques of development and the combination of distant registers (also, in the first song, the temple bell effect arises due to synchronization of the propagation of sound vibrations). The game component, which is present in the third song, is realized through the “terrace” dynamics (f–p) and the “instant” register juxtaposition in parts of the I–II violins. To reproduce folklore intonations, to imitate the sound of folk instruments, the composer uses a variety of timbres of a string orchestra, in particular, orchestral pedals; characteristic rhythmic and melodic turns, sudden tonal shifts, original tonal plans, as well as various polyphonic techniques and the polyphonic-variation method of development. Using folklore material, Yu. Shevchenko complements each of the selected melodies with a harmonic texture, masterfully works with the vertical, and writes out each voice in a jewelled manner. In his interpretation of folk songs, genre features are emphasized: “Many Years” is a glorifying chant, “The Boat is Sailing” is a barcarolle, “Jenchichok-brenchichok”(“Reaper-Chirper”) is a scherzo. Meter and rhythm, register, and timbre solutions contribute to the highlighting of the characteristic genre features. The architectonics of the cycle carries a semantic load and contributes to the demonstration of the idea of the fluidity of life time: “Blessings of Life” (the idea of Part I) – “Immersion in the Process of Life” (Part II) – “Joy of Life” (Part III). So, the interpretive component of the cycle has a positive vector aimed at raising the emotional state of performers and listeners, as evidenced by the bright, “fiery” character of the treatment of the humorous folk song in the third, final, part of the cycle. The trends of form-making, the techniques of using harmony and polyphony laid down by the composer , as well as the conceptual solution of the cycle open wide prospects for the further development of Ukrainian chamber-instrumental music.

Relevance of the study. Oleksandr Slobodyanyk is an outstanding world-class concert pianist. The study of his art is necessary for the further development of piano performance. Slobodyanyk came from Ukraine, but lived half his life in Russia and the other half in the United States. Due to this, his art in Ukraine is insufficiently known and not studied at all. Мain objective of the study: identify a number of important theses that will serve as guidelines for the study of this artistic phenomenon. Мethodology. At this stage, the main method is the collection of scattered and inaccessible materials: sound recordings of the artist's performance, memoirs of his contemporaries and friends, international press reviews. The connection of the comparative method and musicological analysis of recorded performance allows us to draw conclusions about the important features of this pianist`s art. Findings and conclusions. The article speaks about the nationality of Slobodyanyk, the sources of formation of his personality; the essential features of his performing style are formulated. The study of the pianist's repertoire policy reveals the principles of his performing aesthetics. Based on the new materials found, it became possible to evaluate the audience perception of Slobodyanyk's art in different countries. The collected memoirs analysis reveals the peculiarity of his creative method: formation of interpretation during his concert performance. Recordings analysis of his Performances reveals the originality of the content in the pianist's interpretation of the classics. The collected materials draw attention to the following important points of the pianist's performance features: lot of his biography moments still need to be clarified; the process of collecting materials for research remains unfinished; to understand the individuality of the artist, it is important to take into account and sincerely highlight his origins and the influence of family, teachers, environment; to avoid one-sided interpretation of his performance style, it is necessary to study different layers of its repertoire and reviews from different countries to its interpretation. The materials reveal the following features of Slobodyanyk's creative method – a tendency to creativity on stage, "artistic" nature, and immersion in expressive, demonic images. Identified features and problems should determine the guiding directions in the further studies of the great pianist`s art.

The article focuses on the processes of renewal of the musical and theatrical genres taking place at the beginning of the 21st century. The object of the study is formed by a composition for orchestra, chorus, actors and audience participation, Sounds Like You (2009) written by Danish composer Bent Sørensen in collaboration with librettist Peter Asmussen commissioned by the Danish Broadcasting Company. In the article attention is focused on the genre and the compositional-dramaturgic laws of this work the musical material of which is based on Sorensen’s earlier orchestral piece Exit Music (2007). In the content of Sounds Like You the author distinguishes two lines of narration — the lyrical, related to the history of the relationship of love between man and woman, and the philosophical, reflecting the composer’s contemplations about the past, the flow of time, the role of music and its impact on human beings. Both lines are united by the common theme of departure and disappearance. The article emphasizes the specificity of the composition’s synthesis of genre, which combines music for symphony orchestra, instrumental theater and dramatic performance, and also accentuates Sørensen’s desire to find opportunities for an immersive type of impact on the listener. The author of the article also analyzes the features of the musical language of Sounds Like You, combining sonorics and elements of tonality, and discloses the stylistic allusions of the basic thematic material, which form an independent semantic layer of the composition. At the end of the article, the author arrives at the conclusion that Sounds Like You reflects the general trends in the development of contemporary musical theater; nonetheless, Sørensen offers a purely individual solution for these trends.

We tend to use visual factors, such as architectural styles, features, specific decorations, historical contexts, etc., to characterize cultural heritage. Sound is a transient, ethereal phenomenon that tends to be neglected in historical records. While photographs and drawings can preserve the visual aspect of a building or scene, documenting the sonic impact of the spaces is more complicated. In particular, the historic places used for sonic activities, such as music halls, performance halls, and worship spaces, are essential to document and preserve the acoustic qualities. An immersive experience using virtual reality (VR) technology effectively promotes public awareness about cultural heritage's importance. It simulates the room acoustics using spatial audio technology. It also can make the VR environment interactive to manipulate architectural features that change the room acoustics, such as room volume, finish materials, reverberation time, sound barrier, etc. The main goal of this paper is to develop a VR application that can be used as a template to create a VR environment where 3rd to 8th-grade students navigate and learn about the history and architectural features of cultural heritage and the basics of room acoustics using a Quest headset.

Abstract The three terms—silence, stillness, and solitude—are both conceptually distinct and often intertwined in practice. The prominence of the binary speech–silence shifts the emphasis from sound to voice. Silence is thus related to the emergence of logos. But the speech–silence distinction is too crude. Silences can imply verbal responses; they can be transmitted between human beings, and silences in nature have been interpreted as ‘nature speaking’. In some strands of Buddhism, speech and silence may be one and the same. Stillness is often associated with calm and tranquillity but also with death and inertia. By contrast, Carlyle pays homage to industrial toil rather than stillness, in which the performativity of deeds prevails over words, accommodating an unfathomable depth of silences. Finally, solitude shields, conceals, and cocoons, combining a highly private and isolating phenomenon and the elevating, protective, select, and nigh-mystical garb of individuality. It has been held to be the romantic supplement to both silence and stillness, epitomized in Wordsworth’s poetry. Solitude hovers between a strong affirmation of one’s emotional persona and the immersion of self into an extra-human world promising communion and connectedness. It is one of many manifestations that capture the balance at the core of the political: its simultaneously disaggregative and holistic aspects.

Considering the significance of improving natural disasters emergency management and recognizing that catastrophe scenes are almost impossible to reconstruct in real life, forcing persons to experience real hazards violates both law and morality, in this research is presented an engine for Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) that works enhancing human capacities for prevention, response and recovery of natural phenomena effects. The selected novel techniques have very advantageous qualities to overcome the inconveniences detected in the most recent seismic devastating experience in Mexico City, the Sept 19th, 2017, earthquake M7.2: total collapse of more than 230 buildings, partial fall of 7 000 houses, 370 people were killed, and over 6,000 were injured. VR and AR provide researchers, government authorities and rescue teams with tools for recreating the emergencies entirely through computer-generated signals of sight, sound, and touch, when using VR, and overlays of sensory signals for experiences a rich juxtaposition of virtual and real worlds simultaneously, when AR is applied. The gap between knowledge and action is filled with visual, aural, and kinesthetic immersive experiences that poses a possibility to attend to the population in danger in a deeply efficient way, never experimented before.

The widespread digitization of technologies, materials, and processes, and the constant use of the internet for communication and consumption, have led to dramatic changes in our lifestyle. We begin Chapter 12 with the internet and social media’s enabling people to better connect with family, friends, acquaintances, and communities. There can be more mutual awareness and closeness. Yet we may never be able to ‘unplug’; the line between work and play can become increasingly blurred. Having no down time is one manifestation of a broader corrosive phenomenon—technology or social media addiction. We shall see how a battle is being waged between those who want to engage us with more seductive user experiences, and those who would counsel a saner life in which technology and media play a more modest role. We then move from electronic communications to the physical world. We shall consider the effect of ubiquitous digital media, especially the so-called Internet of Things, in which almost all objects become digital. Such objects can sense people near them and general aspects of the world. They behave based on what they sense. One form of this is the rapid integration of voice assistants in everyday objects such as speakers and lamps. People can also transcend the real world by moving into virtual worlds, via augmented reality and virtual reality. The former allows the world to be enhanced with computer-generated visuals and sounds, while the latter allows immersion into worlds that are totally synthetic. We look at how people meet one another nowadays, and the increasingly important role of internet dating. For those who find intimacy or romance with people too challenging or insufficiently satisfying, and as robots become more and more lifelike, there are new opportunities for intimacy and for sexual satisfaction using sex robots, a development in which there are passionate advocates on both sides. How we do financial transactions is also changing. Cash is disappearing; money is becoming increasingly digital and intangible. Investors speculate in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which are implemented with an ingenious secure networked digital ledger known as blockchain.