Soundscape mapping: comparing listening experiences

The perceived auditory environment is an increasingly important part of people’s everyday interactive experiences. While sound design is an established discipline in media such as video games and cinema, this is not the case in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI designers are rarely trained in sound design, and may not make the most effective use of sound in the design of interactions. Even when sound is at the centre of a design it is rarely evaluated to compare the experiences of designers and listeners. This dissertation reports work conducted to develop a way of comparing sound designers’ intentions for a sound design with the experiences of listeners. Literature on methods of measuring, classifying and visualising sound was reviewed, as well as approaches to sound design in different forms of media and computing. A published method for representing auditory environments was selected for preliminary studies. The four studies addressed to the difficulties of describing auditory environments and how they might be visualised. Two surveys were conducted in order to identify attributes of sound that would be meaningful to 75 audio professionals and 40 listeners. A way of classifying and visualising sound events and their distribution in physical environments was developed and evaluated.The soundscape mapping tool (SMT) was trialled with sound designs from a range of fields within media and computing. The experiences of both the designer and listeners were captured for each of the designs using the SMT. This work demonstrated that the SMT was suitable for capturing the intentions of 10 sound designers and the experiences of 100 listeners. The trial also provided information about how the SMT could be developed further. The dissertation contributes evidence that auditory environments can be abstracted and visualised in a manner that allows designers to represent their designs, and listeners to record their experiences

Impressionistic techniques applied in sound art & design

Sound art and design collectively refer to the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating sonic elements to evoke emotion and environment. Sound is used to convey the intentions, emotions, spirit or aura of a story, performance, or sonic installation. Sound connects unique aural environments, creating an immersive experience via mood and atmosphere. Impressionistic techniques such as Impasto, Pointillism, Sgraffito, Stippling introduced by 19th-century painters captured the essence of their subject in more vivid compositions, exuding authentic movements and atmosphere. This thesis applied impressionistic techniques using sound art and design to project specific mood and atmosphere responses among listeners. Four unique sound textures, each representing a technique from Impressionism, and a fifth composite sound texture were created for this project. All five sound textures were validated as representative of their respective Impressionistic technique. Only sonic Pointillism matched its emotive intent. This outcome supports the research question that sound art and design can be used to direct listeners’ mood and atmosphere responses. Partnering Impressionistic principles with sound art and design offers a deeper palette to sonically deliver more robust, holistic soundscapes for amplifying an audience’s listening experience. This project provides a foundation for future explorations and studies in applying cross-disciplinary artistic techniques with sound art and design or other artistic endeavors

Using participatory visualisation of soundscapes to compare designers’ and listeners’ experiences of sound designs

There are numerous rules and well-established guidelines to help designers with the visual appearance of interactive technologies. In contrast, when it comes to the use of sound, there is a paucity of practical information regarding design for euphony, excepting musical composition. This paper addresses this hiatus by describing a theoretically based, practical method for evaluating the design of the auditory components of interactive technologies and media. Specifically, the method involves eliciting the auditory experiences of users of these technologies and media and comparing them with what the sound designers had intended. The method has been comprehensively tested in trials involving 100 users (listeners), and the results have been described as “useful” and “invaluable” by a group of 10 professional sound designers

Using participatory visualisation of soundscapes to compare designers’ and listeners’ experiences of sound designs

There are numerous rules and well-established guidelines to help designers with the visual appearance of interactive technologies. In contrast, when it comes to the use of sound, there is a paucity of practical information regarding design for euphony, excepting musical composition. This paper addresses this hiatus by describing a theoretically based, practical method for evaluating the design of the auditory components of interactive technologies and media. Specifically, the method involves eliciting the auditory experiences of users of these technologies and media and comparing them with what the sound designers had intended. The method has been comprehensively tested in trials involving 100 users (listeners), and the results have been described as “useful” and “invaluable” by a group of 10 professional sound designers

Editorial: Perceptual issues surrounding the electroacoustic listening experience

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link

Practical Strategies for Integrating a Conversation Analyst in an Iterative Design Process

We present a case study of an iterative design process that includes a conversation analyst. We discuss potential benefits of conversation analysis for design, and we describe our strategies for integrating the conversation analyst in the design process. Since the analyst on our team had no previous exposure to design or engineering, and none of the other members of our team had any experience with conversation analysis, we needed to build a foundation for our interaction. One of our key strategies was to pair the conversation analyst with a designer in a highly interactive collaboration. Our tactics have been effective on our project, leading to valuable results that we believe we could not have obtained using another method. We hope that this paper can serve as a practical guide to those interested in establishing a productive and efficient working relationship between a conversation analyst and the other members of a design team.Comment: 11 page

Voices of specialists : Using a podcast to further company reputation

Nudging Pixels is a design podcast that features interviews with designers and developers from the Finnish technology industry. The podcast is produced and hosted by me and my colleague Elina Korpela for Houston Inc., a software consultancy based out of Helsinki, Finland. In this Master’s thesis, I explore the role Nudging Pixels plays in helping Houston Inc. build its network and brand. The role of this podcast is examined through three lenses, as a tool for knowledge sharing, as content marketing and for building familiarity within the design and technology community in Finland. The results presented in this thesis are based on the findings collected from informal interviews with listeners and critical reflection. These findings are used to iterate every episode of Nudging Pixels continuously. Nudging Pixels is an ongoing podcast first published in January 2019. This thesis explores the process behind creating the podcast, and how it attempts to meet the goal of providing new and relatable content to its listeners. As a final result, this thesis aims to provide information to practitioners who may wish to embark upon the endeavour of creating a podcast to further their company’s reputation