The concept of soundscape was originally coined to study the relationship between humans and their sonic environment. Since then, several definitions soundscapes have been proposed based on musical, acoustical ecological perspectives. However, causal mechanisms that underlie often overlooked. As a consequence, term “soundscape” is frequently used in an ambiguous way, alternatively pointing obje...

Designing sonifications requires knowledge in many domains including sound design, sonification design, and programming. Thus end users typically do not create sonifications on their own, but instead work with sonification experts to iteratively co-design their systems. However, once a sonification system is deployed there is little a user can do to make adjustments. In this work, we present an...

“Measuring” the soundscape is like trying to measure the ocean, the forest, or the city—one dimensional metrics and color-coded maps are inadequate to meaningfully describe the myriad complex conditions, relationships, and effects which comprise the soundscape’s impact upon us, and our impact upon it. In order to better understand the subjective experience of the soundscape, we need new methods...

Urban parks play an important role in preserving and promoting the health of citizens who are often exposed to noise pollution and the stress of daily life. The present study describes the main results obtained from a survey performed in five urban parks in Milan. Measurements of the acoustic environment were carried out in 29 sites together with interviews with 231 users on certain aspects of ...

Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to function well as an assistive technology to physical therapy for elderly users. Elderly users, and more specifically retirement home residents, form a unique user group in this field, due to their characteristics and demands. In a case study, retirement home residents used an audio-visual virtual environment (VE) augmentation for an exercise bike. Besides ...

Marine seafloor ecosystems, and efforts to restore them, depend critically on the influx and settlement of larvae following their pelagic dispersal period. Larval dispersal and settlement patterns are driven by a combination of physical oceanography and behavioral responses of larvae to a suite of sensory cues both in the water column and at settlement sites. There is growing evidence that the ...

In this paper, we present an interactive system that uses the body as a generative tool for creating music. We explore innovative ways to make music, create self-awareness, and provide the opportunity for unique, interactive social experiences. The system uses a multi-player game paradigm, where players work together to add layers to a soundscape of three distinct environments. Various sensors ...

Generative music systems have been successful in styles and genres where there are explicit rules that can be programmed into the system. Practices and procedures within soundscape composition have tended to be implicit, in which recordings are selected, combined, and processed based upon contextual relationships. We present a system – Coming Together: Freesound – in which four autonomous artif...

Current systems for synchronous, text-based communication offer more varied interactions than e-mail, but cannot easily convey non-verbal or emotional information in an unobtrusive and intuitive manner. In this report we introduce ChatAmp, a new chat system which incorporates music as a central part of social interaction. Music is used in order to create an unobtrusive ambient soundscape that g...

For the evaluation of soundscape the perception by the human being with respect to the auditory sensation is very important, which is also influenced by expectation, experience and context. The well-known A-weighted sound pressure level is a suitable predictor at higher levels to estimate a possible damage of the human hearing by sound. But at lower sound pressure levels annoyance cannot be suf...