In-Game Intoxication: Demonstrating the Evaluation of the Audio Experience of Games with a Focus on Altered States of Consciousness

In this chapter, we consider a particular method of specifically evaluating the user experience of game audio. To provide a domain of game audio to evaluate, we focus on an increasingly occuring phenomenon in game; that of the altered state of consciousness. Our approach seeks to evaluate user experience of game audio from normal gameplay and gameplay that features altered states. As such, a brief background to person-centered approaches to use experience evaluation is presented and then we provide a detailed description of the method that has been adopted in this chapter: the use of personal construct theory via repertory grid interviews

Hearing triangles: perceptual clarity, opacity, and symmetry of spectrotemporal sound shapes

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.In electroacoustic music, the spectromorphological approach commonly employs analogies to non-sonic phenomena like shapes, gestures, or textures. In acoustical terms, sound shapes can concern simple geometries on the spectrotemporal plane, for instance, a triangle that widens in frequency over time. To test the auditory relevance of such triangular sound shapes, two psychoacoustic experiments assessed if and how these shapes are perceived. Triangular sound-shape stimuli, created through granular synthesis, varied across the factors grain density, frequency and amplitude scales, and widening vs. narrowing orientations. The perceptual investigation focused on three auditory qualities, derived in analogy to the visual description of a triangle: the clarity of the triangular outline, the opacity of the area enclosed by the outline, and the symmetry along the vertical dimension. These morphological qualities seemed to capture distinct perceptual aspects, each linked to different acoustical factors. Clarity of shape was conveyed even for sparse grain densities, while also exhibiting a perceptual bias for widening orientations. Opacity varied as a function of grain texture, whereas symmetry strongly depended on frequency and amplitude scales. The perception of sound shapes could relate to common perceptual cross-modal correspondences and share the same principles of perceptual grouping with vision

Constructing High-level Perceptual Audio Descriptors for Textural Sounds

(Abstract to follow

A perceptually motivated approach to timbre representation and visualisation.

Musical timbre is a complex phenomenon and is often understood in relation to the separation and comparison of different sound categories. The representation of musical timbre has traditionally consisted of instrumentation category (e.g. violin, piano) and articulation technique (e.g. pizzicato, staccato). Electroacoustic music places more emphasis on timbre variation as musical structure, and has highlighted the need for better, more in-depth forms of representation of musical timbre. Similarly, research from experimental psychology and audio signal analysis has deepened our understanding of the perception, description, and measurement of musical timbre, suggesting the possibility of more exact forms of representation that directly reference low-level descriptors of the audio signal (rather than high-level categories of sound or instrumentation). Research into the perception of timbre has shown that ratings of similarity between sounds can be used to arrange sounds in an N-dimensional perceptual timbre space, where each dimension relates to a particular axis of differentiation between sounds. Similarly, research into the description of timbre has shown that verbal descriptors can often be clustered into a number of categories, resulting in an N-dimensional semantic timbre space. Importantly, these semantic descriptors are often physical, material, and textural in nature. Audio signal processing techniques can be used to extract numeric descriptors of the spectral and dynamic content of an audio signal. Research has suggested correlations between these audio descriptors and different semantic descriptors and perceptual dimensions in perceptual timbre spaces. This thesis aims to develop a perceptually motivated approach to timbre representation by making use of correlations between semantic and acoustic descriptors of timbre. User studies are discussed that explored participant preferences for different visual mappings of acoustic timbre features. The results of these studies, together with results from existing research, have been used in the design and development of novel systems for timbre representation. These systems were developed both in the context of digital interfaces for sound design and music production, and in the context of real-time performance and generative audio-reactive visualisation. A generalised approach to perceptual timbre representation is presented and discussed with reference to the experimentation and resulting systems. The use of semantic visual mappings for low-level audio descriptors in the representation of timbre suggests that timbre would be better defined with reference to individual audio features and their variation over time. The experimental user studies and research-led development have highlighted specific techniques and audio-visual mappings that would be very useful to practitioners and researchers in the area of audio analysis and representation

Topology of spatial texture in the acousmatic medium

This research explores the dynamic fabric of experienced space in acousmatic music. The topology of spatial texture is a network of concepts treating music as a flexible, textural space, which deforms, shapes, and transforms in time. A comprehensive terminology is introduced, along with five fixed-media electroacoustic compositions, which exemplify a manifestation of spatial texture in composition and musical thinking. The theory draws from research on the cross-modality of texture perception, philosophical discourse on embodied meaning, physics, psychology of visual art, and discourse on space in acousmatic music. Several different structural perspectives are discussed, which reveal how spatial texture incorporates lower sound-structural levels, materiality, states and processes, motion, global networks and terrains, and relationships between space and time. Emphasis is put on visual and physical connections with spatiality in the acousmatic experience: cogency in spatial structure and dynamics reinforces links among modalities. The concepts and terminology are intended as a contribution to theory in the acousmatic medium, relevant to composition, analysis, and listening. The music represents an aesthetic orientation which emphasises materiality and morphology in texture, transformative processes, spatial design, and spatiotemporal polyvalence

Data and Dasein - A Phenomenology of Human-Data Relations

In contemporary society, data representation is an important and essential part of many aspects of our daily lives. This thesis aims to contribute to our understanding on how people experience data and what role representational modality plays in the process of perception and interpretation. This research is grounded in phenomenology - I align my theoretical exploration to ideas and concepts from philosophical phenomenology, while also respecting the essence of a phenomenological approach in the choice and application of methods. Alongside offering a rich description of people’s experience of data representation, the key contributions I claim transcend four areas: theory, methods, design, and empirical findings. From a theoretical perspective, besides describing a phenomenology of human-data relations, I define, for the first time, multisensory data representation and establish a design space for the study of this class of representation. In relation to methodologies, I describe and deploy two methods to investigate different aspects of data experience. I blend the Repertory Grid technique with a focus group session and show how this adaption can be used to elicit rich design relevant insight. I also introduce the Elicitation Interview technique as a method for gathering detailed and precise accounts of human experience. Furthermore, I describe for the first time, how this technique can be used to elicit accounts of experience with data. My contribution to design relates to the creation of a series of bespoke data-driven artefacts, as well as describing an approach to design that I call Design Probes, which allows researchers to focus their enquiry on specific design features. To answer the research questions I set out in this thesis, I report on a series of empirical studies that used the aforementioned methods. The findings of these studies show, for instance, how certain representational modalities cause us to have heightened awareness of our body, some are more difficult to interpret than others, some rely heavily on instinct and each of them solicit us to reference external events during the process of interpretation. I conclude that a phenomenology of human-data relations show how representational modality affects the way we experience data, it also shows how this experience unfolds and it offers insight into particular moments such as the formation of meaning

Towards sustainable luxury materials selection : measuring the perceived quality of automotive interior materials : innovation report

Automotive companies are searching for new, innovative materials that attempt to redefine what is traditionally associated as a ‘luxury material’. Market research shows that future customers will demand tangible sustainability in vehicle interiors through the use of eco-friendly materials. However, research has also identified customer scepticism towards the quality of green products sold by luxury brands. The perception of quality is typically determined by peripheral and sensorial product properties such as styling, shape and touch. The uncertainty of new materials compounded by the need to balance sustainability, sensory and emotional appeal mean it is no longer possible to rely on the designers’ intuition and experience to evaluate materials. Rigorous, robust methods which include both objective material assessments and the quantification of subjective, sensory and experiential attributes will maximize the chance of successful adoption by customers. They can also offer further insight, such as demonstrating that the Perceived Quality (PQ) of a cheaper material can be improved just by making the material softer using a foam backing, as was found in this research. To address this, a new process has been developed to measure the perceived haptic quality of soft automotive interior materials. Studies were conducted in the UK and Hong Kong to generate user-defined metrics. Of these metrics, roughness and hardness had the largest impact on PQ, so mechanical testing was conducted to obtain objective measurements of both. The subjective and objective measurements were found to correlate strongly, implying that objective measurements alone could indicate a customer’s opinion of these materials. The final stage of the process introduces a statistical model which uses the objective data to predict PQ scores. This is based around an Artificial Neural Network validated as accurate to within 4.5%. A graphical user interface was designed so practitioners can use the model to predict how customers may respond to a new material or a change in the surface characteristics of an existing material, without needing to conduct the initial customer research. The process has been integrated in part within the sponsor company and has influenced future research and business strategy in this area

Interacção gestual na música para instrumentos e sons electroacústicos

Doutoramento em MúsicaEsta tese apresenta alguns aspectos em como o fenómeno do gesto musical pode ser compreendido na percepção da interação musical na música para instrumentos e sons electroacústicos. Através de exemplos de análise, classificação e categorização de diferentes relacões gestuais entre instrumentos e sons electroacústicos, pretende-se estabelecer modelos específicos de interacção que podem ser aplicados como método analítico assim como na composição musical. A pesquisa parte de uma variedade de definições sobre gesto musical na música em geral, na música contemporânea e na música electroacústica em particular, para subsequentemente incluir as relações entre dois eventos sonoros com características diferentes - o electroacústico e o instrumental. São essencialmente abordadas as relações entre gestos musicais através da análise de diversas características: altura, ritmo, timbre, dinâmica, características contrapontísticas, espectromorfológicas, semânticas e espaciais. O resultado da pesquisa teórica serviu de suporte à composição de diversas obras, onde estes aspectos são explorados sob o ponto de vista da criação musical.This dissertation presents some aspects how the phenomenon of musical gesture can be understood in the perception of musical interaction in music for instruments and electroacoustic sounds. Through analytical examples, classification and categorization of different kinds of gesture relationships between instruments and electroacoustic sounds, the aim is to establish specific models of interaction that can be applied as analytical method, as well as in composition. This research departs from a variety of previous approaches to gesture in music in general, and more specifically contemporary music and electroacoustic music, in order to include the relations between two sound events with different characteristics - the electroacoustic and the instrumental. This research focuses on relations between musical gestures, through the analysis of several characteristics (pitch, rhythm, timbre, dynamics, contrapuntal, spectromorphologic, semantic and spatial). The result of theoretical research has served as basis for composition of various works, where these aspects are explored from the point of view of musical creation.FC

Cubaneo In Latin Piano: A Parametric Approach To Gesture, Texture, And Motivic Variation

ABSTRACT CUBANEO IN LATIN PIANO: A PARAMETRIC APPROACH TO GESTURE, TEXTURE, AND MOTIVIC VARIATION COPYRIGHT Orlando Enrique Fiol 2018 Dr. Carol A. Muller Over the past century of recorded evidence, Cuban popular music has undergone great stylistic changes, especially regarding the piano tumbao. Hybridity in the Cuban/Latin context has taken place on different levels to varying extents involving instruments, genres, melody, harmony, rhythm, and musical structures. This hybridity has involved melding, fusing, borrowing, repurposing, adopting, adapting, and substituting. But quantifying and pinpointing these processes has been difficult because each variable or parameter embodies a history and a walking archive of sonic aesthetics. In an attempt to classify and quantify precise parameters involved in hybridity, this dissertation presents a paradigmatic model, organizing music into vocabularies, repertories, and abstract procedures. Cuba\u27s pianistic vocabularies are used very interactively, depending on genre, composite ensemble texture, vocal timbre, performing venue, and personal taste. These vocabularies include: melodic phrases, harmonic progressions, rhythmic cells and variation schemes to replace repetition with methodical elaboration of the piano tumbao as a main theme. These pianistic vocabularies comprise what we actually hear. Repertories, such as pre-composed songs, ensemble arrangements, and open- ended montuno and solo sections, situate and contextualize what we hear in real life musical performances. Abstract procedures are the thoughts, aesthetics, intentions, and parametric rules governing what Cuban/Latin pianists consider possible. Abstract procedures alter vocabularies by displacing, expanding, contracting, recombining, permuting, and layering them. As Cuba\u27s popular musics find homes in its musical diaspora (the United States, Latin America and Europe), Cuban pianists have sought to differentiate their craft from global salsa and Latin jazz pianists. Expanding the piano\u27s gestural/textural vocabulary beyond pre-Revolutionary traditions and performance practices, the timba piano tumbao is a powerful marker of Cuban identity and musical pride, transcending national borders and cultural boundaries