The icosahedral loudspeaker (IKO) is able to project strongly focused sound beams into arbitrary directions. Incorporating artistic experience and psychoacoustic research, this article presents three listening experiments that provide evidence for a common, intersubjective perception of spatial sonic phenomena created by the IKO. The experiments are designed on the basis of a hierarchical model of spatiosonic phenomena that exhibit increasing complexity, ranging from a single static sonic object to combinations of multiple, partly moving objects. The results are promising and explore new compositional perspectives in spatial computer music.
The icosahedral loudspeaker (IKO) was previously established as an electroacoustic instrument enabling the musical creation and orchestration of sculptural sound phenomena in the room. This is technically achieved by manipulating the strengths of the available acoustic reflection paths by using the IKO’s acoustic beamforming capabilities. In its use, listeners perceive auditory sculptures whose characterization needs investigation. We present a proposed set of sculptural quality attributes directionality, contour, and plasticity and a series of listening experiments investigating them. The experiments employ documented beam layouts using a selected set of sounds as conditions, and they evaluate the recognizability, perceivable grading, and discernibility of the proposed sculptural qualities.
IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a need for engaging online resources to enrich psychiatry training for undergraduate medical students. Podcasting is a well-established digital communication platform utilised daily in a myriad of capacities, including education. A group of medical students were tasked with creating their own educational podcasts covering specific aspects of psychiatry.ObjectivesEach pair was set a sub-topic of psychiatry and utilised software to produce educational resources. The objective of this project was to reflect upon production as well as explore the efficacy of podcasting as a tool within undergraduate training.MethodsThe medical students conducted research and contacted experts within the field to contribute to their podcasts. The majority of the students then conducted reviews of the literature surrounding podcasting within medical education, which informed the production of their own podcasts. From this, it was discussed how this project could impact future practice, and indicated that podcasts may become crucial asynchronous learning tools in medical education.ResultsLiterature review and first-hand experience of podcast production enabled the students to appreciate the advantages of podcasting and the potential for its widespread future applications. Their wider reading revealed that podcast-using study participants outperformed or matched their peers in assessments, and overwhelmingly enjoyed using podcasts over traditional teaching methods.ConclusionsThe use of podcasting can complement traditional psychiatry training and appeal to a generation of digital natives that prefer this learning style. Podcast production is also an excellent revision method, highlighting the advantages of peer-to-peer education in both learning and increasing engagement with psychiatry.DisclosureNo significant relationships.
Virtual reality and spatial audio technologies bring about a new paradigm in the fields of architecture and music. Works developed in these media produce experiences beyond what is perceivable in the physical world, extending therefore our capacities to design/compose as well as our sensibilities for spatial and temporal perception. By operating in the spatiotemporal domain, these new media, question our disciplinary understandings of space and time as well as their aesthetics, requiring an altogether new post-disciplinary conception of design/composition and experience.
"Beyond the Visual" is a research curriculum for the investigation of spatiotemporal aesthetics, in the interface between architecture and music, in regard to perception and creativity and design/composition.
This exposition is part of the research agenda of the Society of Artistic Research Special Interest Group (SIG): Spatial Aesthetics and Artificial Environments.
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