Javascript is disabled or not supported in your browser. JavaScript must be enabled in order for you to use WIKINDX fully. Enable JavaScript through your browser options then try again, otherwise, try using a different browser.

Sound Research WIKINDX

List Resources

Displaying 1 - 20 of 21
Parameters

Chion, M. (1994). Audio-vision: Sound on screen. C. Gorbman, Trans. New York: Columbia University Press.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 07/06/2021, 08:48
Murch's foreword: talking of sound in cinema: "If we do notice [sound] consciously, it is often only because of some problem or defect."
Murch's foreword: "Such a 'biological' approach -- sound first, image later -- stands in contrast not only to the way most people approach film -- image first, sound later -- but, as we have seen, to the history of cinema itself."
Murch's foreword: Claims far back in history that sounds "seemed to be ... a shadow to the object that caused them." Recording broke this duality separating sound from image allowing for an appreciation of sound for its innate qualities (cf. Musique Concrète) and to associate sounds with disparate objects.
Murch's foreword: Humankind's mutual habit of always associating/subjugating sound to the image object if they are rendered simultaneously, works in favour of film sound designers who, for example, can provide the "sound of a watermelon being crushed instead of a human head."
Murch's foreword: Talks of stretching sound/image relationship to create a "fruitful tension" between the image on screen and the mind of the audience. Chion's sound 'en cheux' or sound 'in the gap'. Sound "doesn't possess the built-in escape valves of ambiguity" that other media possess "by virtue of their sensory incompleteness". "...the metaphoric use of sound" in film "can open up a perceptual vacuum into which the mind of the audience must inevitably rush."
Murch's foreword: Talking of metaphoric gap between image and sound: the larger the gap the greater the "added value" (Chion's term) that sound brings to film. There are limits to how far the metaphor can be stretched.
Murch's foreword: Unlike the instantaneous fusion of the left and right eye images into stereoscopic vision, the fusion of sound and image "is -- and should be -- continuously changing and flexible". The more instantaneous such fusion the flatter and less dimensional the result is.
"Theories of the cinema until now have tended to elude the issue of sound, either by completely ignoring it or by relegating it to minor status."
"...audiovisual media .. place their spectators -- their audio-spectators -- in a specific perceptual mode of reception, which ... I shall call audio-vision."
"We never see the same thing when we also hear; we don't hear the same thing when we see as well."
Uses the term 'added value' to describe sound's relationship to image -- specifically its enrichment of image. The impression given is that the sound "is already contained in the image itself."
"...the eye is more spatially adept and the ear more temporally adept."
"A smooth and continuous sound is less "animating" than an uneven or fluttering one." The latter, when combined with image, more insistently draws our eyes to the image or part of it. The same is also true for a sound with little repetition and therefore less predictability. To a point -- cf. the tension created in Who Want's to be a Millionaire? where we await a change. What is important in grabbing the audience's attention is not the speed of the sound but the rate of change of the sound. Sounds rich in high frequencies (i.e. sharp) command attention.
Sound with moving images imposes a "real and irreversible time". Sound in a reversed film always discloses that the film has been reversed. Many images are (visually) reversible.
"...the figurative value of a sound in itself is usually quite non-specific." Acoustical realism is of less importance to the viewer than the sound's synchronicity with the image.
Acousmatic sound "intensifies causal listening in taking away the aid of sight." We can shut our eyes but not our ears -- sound is omnipresent -- can saturate. Especially the case with passive, as opposed to active, perception.
Sound "can become an insidious means of affective and semantic manipulation."
"...the editing of film sounds has created no specific sound unit ... sound splices [do not] permit us to demarcate identifiable units of sound." "Sounds have been edited since it became technically possible in radio ... and in phonograph and tape recording. In none of these instances, regardless of whether images are involved, has the notion of an "auditory shot" or unit of sound montage emerged as a neutral, universally recongnizable unit."
"...for sound pieces the temporal dimension seems to predominate, and the spatial dimension not to exist at all."
"The most widespread function of film sounds consists of unifying or binding the flow of images." -- bridges visual gaps, -- provides an acoustical container for the images, -- "unity through non-diegetic music ... casts the images into a homogenizing bath".
"...elements of auditory setting (E.A.S.)" are point source sounds emitting infrequently and which "help create and define the film's space".
Silence "is the product of a contrast." i.e. it has to be prepared for and is the polar opposite of what we've heard before.
"Film uses sounds as synonyms of silence". The cliché is the film shot where the only sound to be heard (or at least that given prominence in the mix) is the ticking of a clock - i.e. it's now so quiet that only now can you hear sounds you would normally not hear.
"What we hear is what we haven't had time to see."
"...there is spatial magnetization of sound by image." In terms of film, the perceived location of a sound source is psychological and is usually tied to on-screen image or imagined off-screen action regardless of the loudspeaker (the real source) positioning.
A continuum: Acousmatic sound <---------------> Visualized sound Sound source not seen <------> Sound source seen. "A sound or voice that remains acousmatic creates a mystery of the nature of its source, its properties and its powers, given that causal listening cannot supply complete information about the sound's nature and events taking place." p.72 Non-diegetic sound is a form of acousmatic sound but one with no connection to the story world.
Offscreen Space: "Let us call ambient sound sound that envelops a scene and inhabits its space, ... birds singing, churchbells ringing." Although lacking a visual source they "identify a particular locale through their pervasive and continuous presence." p.75 "Internal sound ... corresponds to the physical and mental interior of a character." The physical sounds (breathing, crying etc.) are "objective-internal sounds" and mental thoughts or memories are "subjective-internal sounds". p.76 Acousmatic sounds "transmitted electronically [are] on-air sounds" (e.g. telephone, radio etc.). p.76
"Spatially speaking, a sound and its source are two different entities." Chion expands this to pointing out that in an enclosed space (i.e. with reverb etc.) a sound is actually an approximation of many sounds from many sources. Additionally, sound "tends to spread out, like a gas, into whatever available space there is."
'Offscreen sound' requires an image to work -- without an image there is no difference between offscreen and onscreen sound. Ofscreen sounds "interact with a screen where they [encounter] the void of their presence." p.83
Active offscreen sound is acousmatic sound that excites the audience's curiosity. It "propels the film forward and it engages the spectator's anticipation." Passive offscreen sound anchors the viewer in a space, stabilizing the image and requiring no questions to be asked. e.g. Territory and EAS sounds.
"...reality is one thing, and its transposition into audiovisual two-dimensionality ... which involves radical sensory reduction, is another." At the start of this chapter (5), Chion is discussing that attempts to make film using sounds recorded while filming (as unprocessed as possible) don't work. Makes the point that what works in cinema (both audio and visual) is a stick figure drawing (works) when compared to a Dürer drawing (won't work).
Differentiates between definition and [hi-]fidelity. The latter is a commercial and subjective concept while the former is objective and concerned with the recording and manipulation of higher frequencies for improved intelligibility, more information and more "materializing indices" p.99. Says that definition is what counts and that it "lends itself to a more lively, spasmodic, rapid, alert mode of listening, particularly to agile phenomena that occur in the higher frequencies" p.99.
Discussing authenticity and realism of sound truth and sound verisimilitude. There are sound conventions and "specific codes of realism" that produce anything but authentic sound but rather provide "the impression of realism". These conventions become "our reference for reality itself."
Uses the term render to indicate a sound that gives away its source. Not all sounds render their source. Additionally, Chion states that some sounds (which presumably are as yet unrendered) can be rendered by verbal explanation/description. This dispels the "common ... illusion of a natural narrativity of sounds." p.111
While reverberation can add to MSI, unrealistic reverb can be "dematerializing and symbolizing."
"Reinforcement with materializing indices (or, on the other hand, erasing them) contributes toward the creation of a universe, and can take on metaphysical meaning."
Describes a "universal spatial symbolism of musical pitches" (p.121) in which the direction of a musical scale follows the trajectory of the object on screen.
Acousmêtre: A sound, often vocal, whose source is not seen (therefore it's acousmatic) but is clearly "implicated in the action" p.129. Does not include dettached film narrators but does include unseen voices such as the mother in Psycho and HAL9000 in 2001 A Space Odyssey. The acousmêtre (in film) is: a) all-seeing b) all-knowing c) all-powerful d) everywhere "paradoxical acousmêtres" (p.130) are those lacking one or more of the four powers above. The unmasking of acousmêtre or "[D]e-acousmatization consists of an unveiling process that is unfailingly dramatic." (p.131). Accompanies a loss of power and descent to human vulnerability. Chion points out that technological developments in cinema sound (ie. surround sound) blur the distinction between onscreen/offscreen and therefore weaken the power of the acousmêtre.
suspension: "...when a sound naturally expected from a situation (which we usually hear at first) becomes suppressed, either insidiously or suddenly." This is specific to sound films and creates an enigma or emptiness. Sometimes the spectator is aware of the effect but unable to pinpoint the origin.
By his own admission perhaps oversimplying: "...everything spatial in a film, in terms of image as well as sound, is ultimately encoded into a so-called visual impression, and everything which is temporal, including elements reaching us via the eye, registers as an auditory impression." Chion views the senses (sight, hearing) as simply channels for preceptions that are neither necessarily one nor the other. Those things that are either purely visual or purely auditory are rare.
Talking of music video: "music video's image is fully liberated from the linearity normally imposed by sound."
"...negative sound" is sound that does not exist on film but is created by the combination of viewer's memory, imagination and film image (at the point of viewing).
Chion defines nondiegetic sound as: "sound whose supposed sound source is not only absent from the image but is also external to the story world".
"When we listen acousmatically to recorded sounds it takes repeated hearings of a single sound to allow us gradually to stop attending to its cause and to more accurately perceive its inherent traits."
"For a shot of a hammer, any one of a hundred sounds will do."
"Of two war reports that come back from a very real war, the one in which the image is shaky and rough, with uneven focus and other "mistakes," will seem more true than the one with impeccable framing, perfect visibility, and imperceptible grain. In much the same way for sound, the impression of realism is often tied to a feeling of discomfort, of an uneven signal, of interference and microphone noise, etc."
Walter Murch's foreword: claims sound is the primary pre-natalk sense that, after birth, competes with sight. Cinema reversed this hierarchy by initially (1892-1927) being a sight-only medium.
Murch's foreword: Talking of added value. Murch makes comparison with stereo-scopic vision where the gap between the eyes and consequent image differentiality is resolved into depth - sight's added value.
Murch's foreword: Introduces Chion's concept of acousmêtre -- complete separation of sound and image object such that the image object is only displayed much, much later often to confound the audience's imagination that, in the meantime, has supplied a possibly quite different image object for the sound. In this case, maximum use has been made of the audience's imaginations.
pp.5 onward suggest that film sound is 'verbocentric' in which primacy is given to the spoken voice with other sounds being simply additional sound FX.
Provides three modes of listening: Causal Listening as a means of gathering information about the sound's physical object (its cause). The most common and deceptive form of listening. It rarely operates alone and is usually influenced by non-sonic factors. Also, usually more than one source object creates the sound -- recording and playback influence heard object(s). Semantic A code or language is required to interpret the sound. Differential listening -- operates on similarites and opposites. Reduced Named by Pierre Schaeffer. The sound itself is observed unencumbered by meaning or source/cause. An "objectivity-born-of-intersubjectivity" (p.29). Requires the fixing (recording) of the sounds so that they can be reduced to objects. Our descriptive tools (language even jargon) are wholly unsuited to define sound objects. The three modes overlap and combine.
Talking of the relationship between image and sound (in film) using musical compositional terminology such as counterpoint and harmony. For Chion, there is no such thing as a 'soundtrack' when the (film) image is also being perceived since the film only makes sense when image and sound are viewed vertically (harmony: dissonance/consonance) rather than horizontally as two independent streams (counterpoint).
Presents the idea of [film] sound used as punctuation -- to accent a bit of dialogue for example, to end a scene.
Chion's synchresis is the melding of synchronous aural and visual objects such that we believe them to be one. In reality, the sound may have nothing to do with the image or action. This phenomenon is not fully automatic but is a product of meaning. Context, volume, rhythm all play their part. cf and his description of synchrony (Anderson 1996, p.83).
Mentions the 'in-the-wings' effect in cinema sound (i.e. the sound of a visual object continues as it moves off-screen). This has been gradually dropped (even though it was only made possible by later multi-tracking )because it makes no distinction between screen space and cinema space -- an actor is in the wings or an aisle waiting to appear on screen again. Exits and entrances.
Discusses points of audition - i.e. similar to point of view -- where, within the film, are we listening from? Chion points out the omnidirectional nature of sound as opposed to the directionality of light (not strictly ture -- see my comments earlier) therefore, there is no point of audition but a "zone of audition" p.91. Further points out that we must also ask: who, on-screen, hears what I hear? Usually it is the image grabbing our attention on screen (defined by focus, close-up etc. rather than something indicated by the sound's characteristics.
Chion resurrects the old notion of phonogeny -- 'he has a very phonogenic voice'. Claims that the notion has died out as, while at the birth of recorded sound (and marriage of sound + image) it was possible to compare the natural voice with recorded (and make dismissive comparisons due to the low definition of early recording playback devices), today the recorded voice is so often heard it is the natural voice.
Some sound FX in films do duty in rendering multiple sensations (mass, pain, violence, etc.) which is how we sense anyway (in multiples).
Defines the term materializing sound indices first mentioned on p.99. Any sound has either zero MSI or (up to) an infinity of them. Sounds rich in MSI are concrete and easily rendered (when separated from image) and provide rich information about the sound source, the sound's production and the envrionment. Sounds poor in MSI and that are acousmatized are particularly enigmatic.
Chion, talking of MSI, makes the interesting point that the concept of noise is cultural and intimately related to MSI. Using music practice as an example; some music cultures strive for an ethereal sound where all extraneous noise is banished and we are left solely with the notes (low MSI); others gladly incorporate such 'noises' as enriching the music (high MSI -- source easily rendered).
(As part of a longer section on strategies for analyzing film sound.) When analyzing sound in a series of images: lasting noises extend throughout the sequence, punctual noises are isolated sounds. Lasting noises provide continuity across varying textures, shots, content etc. in the sequence.
Coward, S. W., & Stevens, C. J. (2004). Extracting meaning from sound: Nomic mappings, everyday listening, and perceiving object size from frequency. The Psychological Record, 54(3), 349–364.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 24/02/2006, 11:40
Discussing the results of the experiment: "nomic mappings were recognized more readily than symbolic mappings, but the advantage was restricted to the initial phase of the everyday listening group ... the difference in recognition of nomic and symbolic mappings was evident only during the first block of the everyday listening condition. This finding endorses the notion that mapping structures are more readily available in the nomic condition."
Hint that the results of their experiment may "form the basis for intuitive mappings to artificial events ... The major benefit of using auditory icons may be to reacquaint humans with a phylogenetically familiar environment."
Curtis, S. (1992). The sound of the early Warner Bros. cartoons. In R. Altman (Ed), Sound Theory Sound Practice. (pp. 191–203). New York: Routledge.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 13/02/2020, 12:23
Rather than use diegetic/non-diegetic, Scott uses isomorphic and iconic for music/effects in cartoons -- the former particularly in cartoons which have been animated to a pre-determined musical beat (hence difficulties with former terminology). "If isomorphic relations refer to those governed by rhythm and movement, then iconic relations pertain to analogous relationships between visual events and the timbre, volume, pitch and tone of the accompanying sound." Here, 'isomorphism' means same-shape whereas 'iconic' is used in a semiotic sense (C.S. Peirce) -- as an anology between the sound and the object.
Live-action films tend to use indexical sound where there is a direct, causal relationship between the sign and the signifier, the sound and the object. Cartoons only use iconic sound "... indexicality is impossible in a cartoon."
In terms of film [sound], Curtiss defines the term 'diegetic' as "that which is accessible to the characters of a film".
Talking of early Looney Tunes production technique: although much of the music was composed and dubbed on after the animation, a musical beat was usually decided upon before artwork began. A reversal of the usual (film production) sound/image hierarchy.
Although distinctions (certainly in practice) are clear between dialogue/music/effects in feature films, the distinction is less clear in animations (particularly early cartoons) and sometimes not there at all. This is particularly noticeable where the music is used for sound effects (he discusses this later as isomorphic and iconic sound) as played by the orchestra. Although owing a debt to the musical accompaniment of silent film, this was often a function of the difficulties in post-production mixing (loss of music quality) or of using a single microphone to record all sound simultaneously. By 1933, technological advances enabled dialogue and music (+ FX) to be recorded separately and mixed/dubbed later (hence cartoons of this period now have (clear) dialogue over the music.
Darley, A. (2000). Visual digital culture: Surface play and spectacle in new media genres. London: Routledge.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 05/11/2006, 10:59
Quoting Gene Youngblood (Youngblood 1970, p.206): ""If the visual subsystems exist today, it is folly to assume that the computing hardware won't exist tomorrow. The notion of 'reality' will be utterly and finally obscured when we reach that point ... [of generating] totally convincing reality within the information processing system ... We're entering a Mythic age of electronic realities that exist only on a metaphysical plane.""
1995 saw the release of "the first feature-length computer synthesized film Toy Story".
Quoting Jean Baudrillard, Simulations, New York: Semiotext(e), 2003: "...no contemplation is possible. ... Montage and codification demand, in effect, that the receiver construe and decode by observing the same procedure whereby the work was assembled. The reading of the message is then only a perceptual examination of the code." (119-120).
"They lack the symbolic depth and representational complexity of earlier forms, appearing by contrast to work within a drastically reduced field of meaning. They are direct and one-dimensional, about little, other than their ability to commandeer the sight and the senses."
Talking of digital media (including games) and arguing that they emphasize spectacle over semantic meaning: "They do not propose spectators who are bent on interpretation, or who are looking for semantic resonance. The activity mobilised in this instance is not primarily intellectual, not reflective or interpretative in character, but rather sensual and diverting in other ways."
Makes the case that narrative cinema in the early C20th. supplanted the early cinema as spectacle which was derived from vaudeville, circus, amusement parks, dioramas etc.: "...the marvellous gives way to realism and characterisation." Darley gives no reason for this.
Claims that the idea of producing realism has dominated the computer image industry/research since the late 1970s. Realism is defined as the degree of resemblance to real-world objects with, for images, photography being the yardstick.
Argues that computer generated images, as they do not involve recording, are iconic rather than indexical in the Peircian sense -- this despite any attempt at photo-realism on the part of the animators.
Diegesis. (2003-2006). Wikipedia, Retrieved January 12, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diegetic
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 15/05/2006, 12:44
"Diegesis in film In film, diegesis is the narrative that includes all the parts of the story, both those that are and those that are not actually shown on the screen (such as events that have led up to the present action; people who are being talked about; or events that are presumed to have happened elsewhere). Elements of a film can be "diegetic" or "non-diegetic." These terms are most commonly used in reference to sound in a film, but can apply to other elements. For example, an insert shot that depicts something that neither is taking place in the world of the film nor is seen, imagined, or thought by a character, is a non-diegetic insert. Titles, subtitles, and voice-over narration (with some exceptions) are also non-diegetic."
"Film sound and music Sound in films is termed diegetic if it is part of the narrative sphere of the film. For instance, if a character in the film is playing a piano, or turns on a CD, the resulting sound is "diegetic." If, on the other hand, music plays in the background but cannot be heard by the film's characters, it is termed non-diegetic or, more accurately, extra-diegetic. The score of a film (commonly but erroneously called the "sound track") is "non-diegetic" sound. Example: In The Truman Show, a sequence shows the characters at night, when most of them are sleeping. Soft, soothing music plays, as is common in such scenes, but we assume that it does not exist in the fictional world of the film. However, when the camera cuts to the control room of Truman's artificial world, we see that the mood music is being played by a man standing at a bank of keyboards. This abrupt shift from apparently non-diegetic to diegetic is a kind of cinematic joke."
"Diegesis has been contrasted since Plato's and Aristotle's times with mimesis, the form that is showing rather than telling the thoughts or the inner processes of characters, by external action and acting. Diegesis, however, is the main narrative in fiction and drama, the telling of the story by the author, in that he speaks to the reader or the audience directly. He may speak through his characters or may be the invisible narrator or even the all-knowing narrator who speaks from above in the form of commenting on the action or the characters. What diegesis is Diegesis may concern elements, such as characters, events and things within the main or primary narrative. However, the author may include elements which are not intended for the primary narrative, such as stories within stories; characters and events that may be referred to elsewhere or in historical contexts and that are therefore outside the main story and are thus presented in an extradiegetic situation."
"In diegesis the author tells the story. He is the narrator himself who presents to the audience or the readership his or his characters' thoughts and all that is in his or their imagination, their fantasies and dreams."
Fitch, W. T., & Kramer, G. (1994). Sonifying the body electric: Superiority of an auditory over a visual display in a complex, multivariate system. In G. Kramer (Ed), Auditory Display: Sonification, Audification, and Auditory Interfaces. (pp. 307–325). Reading MA: Addison-Wesley.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 16/09/2005, 12:19
The authors point out that the visual system is inherently spatial and that localisation of objects is critical. Conversely, while the ability to localise is of importance for the auditory system, we are able to stream audio and separate audio objects (although we can quite happily also appreciate composite sound) without the benefit of localisation cues. This is because the auditory system prioritises temporal cues.
Based on the findings of the experiment, the authors suggest that the auditory system is faster because it can process data in parallel due to the fact that the human auditory system can hear in all directions. The visual system, they suggest, processes mainly in series because the eyes can move and focus, eyelids can be closed and because light cannot bend around objects.
Folmann, T. B. Dimensions of game audio. Retrieved November 23, 2004, from http://www.itu.dk/peopl ... ions-of-game-audio.html
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 28/03/2006, 16:45
For his four dimensions of game sound, Folmann provides the following image: The four dimensions of sound complement each other but also relate to other aspects of the game (hence the inter-contextuality).
Friberg, J., & Gärdenfors, D. 2004, June 3–5. Audio games: New perspectives on game audio. Paper presented at Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology '04, Singapore.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 04/04/2016, 13:09
Comparing auditory displays to visual art, the authors point out that there is a lack of established conventions that would lead to subjective interpretations and challenges for the player. In visual games, this is lack is further compounded by the trivialisation and simpliying of audio content when compared to visual content. "...the simplification [does not] make use of the large potential of sound as a provider of interactive content."
Sound objects can "carry different layers of information in addition to their primary functional aspects. This meta-level information is subjective and not always based on established agreements with the player, as functional information generally is."
"All interface design is about establishing agreements between the designer and the user." These are the basis for conventions and audio, generally, has a lack of such conventions when compared to visual arts.
Their taxonomy of game sound is presented as a way to "emphasise the differences between various auditory messages" in their games.
5 categories of sound in the author's TiM audio game: Avatar sounds -- footsteps etc. made by the player's avatar. Usually in centre of sound field. Object sounds -- indicate presence of objects. Character sounds -- Non-player character sounds. Ornamental sounds -- Ambient music, atmosphere sounds - not directly connected to the action. Instructions -- such as speech/advice.
The authors use Chion/Schaeffer terms to modify Scott McCloud's semantic model for cartoons to a semantic model for sound (McCloud, S. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. 1993): (The dotted line is the border between speech and non-speech sound.) NB - 'causal' listening is referred to as 'casual listening' throughout the paper!
Gaver, W. W. (1989). The SonicFinder, a prototype interface that uses auditory icons. Human Computer Interaction, 4(1), 67–94.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 26/04/2013, 16:41
Describing the choice of sound in SonicFinder: "First, the user selects the file (Figure 1 A). This is indicated both visually, by the file becoming highlighted, and aurally by the sound of an object being tapped. The type of object is conveyed by the material being tapped. In this example, the object is a file, so it makes a wooden "thunk." If it had been an application, it would have made a metal sound; a folder would have made a sharper paper-like sound; disks a hollow metal sound (like a large metal container being tapped); and the trashcan a different hollow metal sound. In the Finder, there are standard icons for folders, disks, and the trashcan, but applications and files are not distinguished by icon type. These are easily differentiated in the SonicFinder by the use of different sounding materials for their selection sounds."
"Note that sound effects are not arbitrarily related to their associated events. Instead, they seem to rely on the abilities of listeners to generalize their knowledge about everyday sound-producing events to new ones, even imaginary ones involving things such as light-sabers or transporters. Windows in the everyday world don't open as the ones in the SonicFinder do, but this event does resemble others in the everyday world, such as the rapid approach or sudden expansion of an object.
Hard disks use a lower frequency sound than floppies because they are larger.
Main advantage of auditory icons in conjunction with the Apple desktop icons is their provision of redundant information. The provision of new information (e.g. about the size of disks) seems to be less important.
Discusses conceptual mappings (events in computer world are mapped to tasks in a model world -- binary flow, gates, etc. mapped to file operations, for example, computer desktop is a conceptual mapping) and perceptual mappings (the mapping between the model world and the perceptual world -- how we interface).
Gaver, W. W. (1993). How do we hear in the world? Explorations in ecological acoustics. Ecological Psychology, 5(4), 285–313.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 25/04/2013, 16:39
"...material per se does not exist as for mechanical physics, but instead is separated into many other dimensions such as density, elasticity, and homegeneity. Nonetheless, people do seem to hear the material of a struck object, rather than these other properties[cite]185[/cite]."
Using his simplified algorithms for modelling and synthesis of sound (simplification by discarding parts of the algorithm that have no perceptible effect, is likened by Gaver to "cartoon sounds" analogous to visual cartoons which "capture some defining features while leaving out incidental ones."
Suggests that it is a mistake that acousticians and psychologists make when they assume that hearing a sound as an event requires higher and independent thought processes (because this requires memory and experience) because the sound (these people assume) does not carry such information itself.
Gaver, W. W. (1993). What in the world do we hear? An ecological approach to auditory perception. Ecological Psychology, 5(1), 1–29.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 14/10/2008, 00:12
Points out that "concatenating the creak of a heavy door closing slowly with the slap of a light door slammed shut would be likely to sound quite unnatural." This is an example of higher level attributes of sound events not usually studied by acousticians.
Notes that sound FX CDs usually categorize by context although there is usually some further description of sound objects' hierarchy and physical properties. "A hierarchical framework that describes sounds' attributes and dimensions thus seems more likely to be generative, to delineate a space of possible sounds, rather than context-based classifications." p.21 A simple hierarchy might be: p.22 while a more complex hierarchy might be: p.24 Notes that his preliminary categorisation into solid, liquid and gaseous sound does not cover all eventualities. What about fire?
Distinguishes between musical listening (perception of a sound based on its pitch, loudness, temporal change, timbre and masking) and everyday listening (perception of the sound event itself and its environment). This is an experiential distinction or a perceptual one since any sound can be listened to in either listening mode. cf. Chion (1994, pp.25–34) etc.
A reminder that because the scientific study of sound springs from research into musical acoustics (pitch, loudness etc.), little is known of other modes of auditory perception (e.g. how do we know if someone is walking up or down stairs?). The traditional approach argues that the knowledge about a sound event (ie. everyday listening) relies on experience and memory.
If radiant/direct sound is sensed it arrives at the ear before reflected/reverberant sound. For this reason is is possible to separate information about the sound from information about the environment. Additionally, the medium itself affects sound (e.g. high frequency loss in air) and changes in loudness and/or frequency usually indicate shifting sound (Doppler effect etc.).
If an object's size is changed, the frequency of sound it emits changes too - frequency being the most significant factor of change among others. Therefore, a change in frequency is usually perceived as a change in size of the sound object.
Recounting a third-party experiment, Gaver notes that most participants could distinguish between and estimate the size of objects dropped into water.
Hahn, J. K., Fouad, H., Gritz, L., & Lee, J. W. (1998). Integrating sounds and motions in virtual environments. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7(1), 67–77.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 30/07/2018, 12:44
"The characteristics of sounds are shaped by the characteristics of the objects and their motions. They reinforce each other to give a coherent perceptual experience." Additionally, the authors point out that the primary focus in VR sound research and design has been on sound localisation.
van Leeuwen, T. (1999). Speech, music, sound. London: MacMillan Press.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 22/09/2006, 15:16
"Sound and image are distinctly different media. There is, for instance, no equivalent of the 'frontal' and 'side on' angle in sound. Sound is a wrap-around medium."
"...sound is dynamic: it can move us towards or away from a certain position, it can change our relation to what we hear."
"..if we can use sound to actually do things, to hail or warn or soothe, we can also use it to represent these things, to represent hailing or warning or soothing."
"...sound is always dynamic. Sounds are not things, nor can they represent things. Sounds are actions and can only represent the actions of people, places and things: ... the rustling of the leaves of the trees, not the trees themselves.... Sound messages only have verbs, so to speak. The nouns are inferred not stated."
Arguing that timbre also has semiotic value and is not just a container for semiotic speech or music (as writing is when compared to speech by linguists): "Sound never just 'expresses' or 'represents', it always also, and at the same time, affects us." He refers to Barthes' The Grain of the Voice.
Speaking of the human voice and what its semiotic value might be: "For most twentieth-century linguists the answer to this question has been: none. For them, 'phonemes', speech sounds, have no intrinsic value, but only distinctive value. They only serve to tell words apart from each other."
"[Sound] [T]echnology has been drawn into the realm of semiotics."
"Sound ... is designed. It is no longer 'slaved' to what we see, but can play an independent role, just as many of the sounds in our everyday environment are no longer 'indexical', mechanically caused by whatever they are the sound of, but designed:... [A]s I open a door, I may hear, not the clicking of the clock, but an electronic buzz ... [M]uzak replaces the waiting tone of the telephone."
"...sound designers ... can manipulate the genre of sound we will hear, and create 'documentary realist' sound, 'humoristic' sound, 'heightened dramatic' sound, 'surreal' sound..." van Leeuwen further talks about the different types of semiotic coding required for each.
Discusses sound depth (the only parameter of the perspective he's ostensibly talking about that he seems concerned with (as sound has no front or side aspect)) and terms used to describe layers of sound in different sonic professions: RADIO Immediate Support Background FILM Foreground Mid-ground Background MUSIC Figure Ground Field (after Murray Schafer) All are hierarchies of three layers.
Sound consists of different features each contributing some signification that defines what the sound represents. These significations are derived from our experience and ability to associate the sound with an action that occurs when the sound is produced. i.e. We extend our practical experience to understand that others may behave similarly.
Applies semiotics to the timbre of the voice. There's a potentially useful section on the voicing of vowels and consonents and their potential significations when used in (English) words.
Presents three coding orientations for sound derived from the greater or lesser articulation of various modalities (see below): ABSTRACT-SENSORY Less articulation = more abstract. The subject becomes generalized. Music is the most abstract form of sound yet can also be sensory (with increased articulation of, for example, friction). NATURALISTIC An imitative approach -- what you would hear if you were really there. Often used in films, especially documentaries. Verisimilitude. SENSORY Emotive impact is most important. Articulation is increased at the expense of naturalistic representation. There may be configurations of these three. Modalities: dynamic range pitch range durational variation perspectival depth degrees of fluctuation (e.g. vibrato) degrees of friction (e.g. smooth <--> rough) absorption range (wet <--> dry) degree of directionality
O'Callaghan, C. (2007). Sounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 09/05/2013, 09:23
Schafer, R. M. (1994). The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Rochester Vt: Destiny Books.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 14/02/2014, 15:44
Defines noises as "sounds we have learned to ignore"
The definition of space by acoustic means is much more ancient than the establishment of property lines and fences"
"In onomatopoeic vocabulary, man unites himself with the soundscape about him, echoing back its elements. The impression is taken in; the expression is thrown back in return."
Defines the terms hi-fi and lo-fi in terms of signal-to-noise ratio with the former having a higher ratio than the latter. "The hi-fi soundscape is one in which discrete sounds can be heard clearly because of the low ambient noise level. ...sounds overlap less frequently; there is perspective--foreground and background." "In a lo-fi soundscape individual acoustic signals are obscured in an overdense population of sounds. ... Perspective is lost."
"In the quiet ambience of the hi-fi soundscape the slightest disturbance can communicate vital or interesting information"
Schafer quotes from Virgil's Georgics: "Such was the life that golden Saturn lived upon earth: Mankind had not yet heard the bugle bellow for war, Nor yet heard the clank of the sword on the hard anvil." (Book II, line 501.) and claims that this aural image (from metallic sounds) of war remains although now enhanced by the sounds of explosions.
"...the parish is an acoustic space, circumscribed by the range of the church bell. The church bell is a centripetal sound; it attracts and unifies the community in a social sense just as it draws man and God together." He further defines centripetal sounds on p.56 as unifying and regulating communities. He explictly refers to sirens as centrifugal sounds on p.178.
"The flat continuous line in sound is an artificial construction. Like the flat line in space, it is rarely found in nature."
Quotes Stockhausen as stating that "the time of memory [is] the crucial time between eight- and sixteen-second-long events." (Cott, Jonathan. Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer. LONDON 1974. pp30--31)
Reminds us that low-frequency sounds, with longer wavelengths, are subject to less diffraction, better filling space due to their greater ability to proceed around obstacles. "Localization of the sound source is more difficult with low-frequency sounds, and music stressing such sound is both darker in quality and more directionless in space. Instead of facing the sound source the listener seems immersed in it."
Describing the headphone listener: "[h]e is no longer regarding events on the acoustic horizon; no longer is he surrounded by a sphere of moving elements. He is the sphere. He is the universe."
Describes Pierre Schaeffer's term sound object as "the smallest self-contained particle of a soundscape."
Is critical of Pierre Schaeffer's definition and usage of sound object because if is purely clinical and physical--he makes no reference to semantics or other associations. "it is a phenomenological sound formation only" and takes no account of the physical object that produced the sound or any meaning associated with it. Schafer prefers the term sound event as more encompassing of meaning, context and sound source.
"Sounds may be classified in several ways: according to their physical characteristics (acoustics) or the way in which they are perceived (psychoacoustics); according to their function and meaning (semiotics and semantics); or according to their emotional or affective qualities (aesthetics). While it has been customary to treat these classifications seperately, there are obvious limitations to isolated studies."
Discusses Innes' (1972/1950) proposition that solid durable [written] media emphasizes time while those that are light and less durable emphasize space and suggests that sound falls into the latter category. "...the true character of sound in shaping societies is in its spatial spread ... the real paradox is that although sounds are pronounced in time, they are also erased by time." (p.162).
"A [acoustic] sign is any representation of a physical reality. ... A sign does not sound but merely indicates. A signal is a sound with a specific meaning, and it often stimulates a direct response (telephone bell, siren etc.). A symbol, however, has richer connotations."
"A sound event is symbolic when it stirs in us emotions or thoughts beyond its mechanical sensations or singaling function, when it has a numinosity or reverberation that rings through the deeper recesses of the psyche."
"Sirens and church bells belong to the same class of sounds: they are community signals. As such they must be loud enough to emerge clearly out of the ambient noise of the community. But while the church bell sets a protective spell on the community, the siren speaks of disharmony from within."
"Noises possess a great deal of symbolic character as sound phobias"
In the context of machinery: "[N]oise represents escaped energy."
"When one travels, new sounds snap at the consciousness and are thereby lifted to the status of figures."
"The acoustic space of a sounding object is that volume of space in which the sound can be heard. ... Modern technology has given each individual the tools to activate more acoustic space."
"If we must be distracted ten or twenty times each day, why not by pleasant sounds? Why could not everyone choose his or her own telephone signal?"
"...the ultimate silence is death..."
Defines some features of the soundscape (his term): Keynote sounds: Ubiquitous, fundamental and pervasive background sounds (Gestalt ground) that are not always consciously heard. Signals: Foreground sounds (Gestalt figure) that are consciously listened to. Soundmark: A sound that is unique to the soundscape or that particularly aids in the identification of place. archetypal sounds: sounds possessed of a symbolism, inherited from ancient times that have a mystery about them. His use of the Gestalt terms is a little different to its use in the psychology of visual perception where a figure is perceived only because it is given mass and outline by the ground. For Schafer, any outlining is performed by the keynote sounds not on the signal sounds but on the characters of those who live among them--humans are defined in part by their acoustic environment.
Points out that the church bell became a marker of time.
Noise is proportional to power, or at least the dispensation to make loud noise reflects the power of the noise-maker.
Schafer claims that early societies had fewer flat line sounds. Any increase in these sounds came with the Industrial Revolution. For Schafer, discrete sounds have a biological life (they're born, they live, they die) and provide a sense of duration to the listener marking the passage of time. Flat line sounds are 'suprabiological' with no sense of time implied.
The ability to remove sounds from their original context (via telephony or recording) is called schizophonia by Schafer.
Describing the harmonics of the hum of street electrical equipment (lighting, electrical signs etc.) in 1975 in the village of Skruv in Sweden, the harmonics were found to form a G# major triad. The addition of F# from the whistles of passing trains created V7 chord.
Describes three methods of graphically notating sound: 1. Acoustics--waveforms, frequency domain etc. 2. Phonetics--for speech and the human voice. 3. Musical notation--representation of 'musical' sound. Points out that the first two are descriptive while the third is prescriptive.
A sound is perceived as figure (signal or soundmark) or ground (keynote ambient sound) on the basis of acculturation, training, mood, social relation to the soundscape.
Notes that the bell and the siren (invented by Seebeck in the early C19th.) both radiate sound uniformly in all directions.
Discusses the various meanings of 'noise' both historically and culturally. The variety of meanings include unwanted sound, unmusical sound, loud sound, signal disturbance (disturbance in a signalling system).
Sloboda, J. A., & Juslin, P. N. (2002). Psychological perspectives on music and emotion. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and Emotion: Theory and Research. (pp. 71–104). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 2001).
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 01/11/2010, 02:55
Description of vitality affects that are human feelings or qualities related to intensity, shape, contour and movement but that are not emotions themselves. They can occur concurrently with emotions or in their absence and are common to all types of expression.
Somers, E. 2000, April 2–5. Abstract sound objects to expand the vocabulary of sound design for visual and theatrical media. Paper presented at 6^th International Conference on Auditory Display, Atlanta.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 16/09/2005, 13:58
Sound intended for dramatic purposes or to communicate can have "varying levels of cognitive precision."
"The early video games industry used simple abstract sounds to good effect but later games, presented on platforms with significant amounts of memory and fast processor speeds, seem to be gradually copying the realistic and caricature sounds of modern films and television dramas. This tendency toward artistic complexity where simplicity might provide a more novel experience seems common in the media world."
Stockburger, A. 2003, November 4–6. The game environment from an auditive perspective. Paper presented at Level Up, Utrecht Universiteit.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 15/05/2008, 10:09
In addition to spatial representation, sound serves "to inform and give feedback, to set the mood, rhythm and pace, and to convey the narrative."
"...it is precisely the dynamic relation between material and program that separates sound practice in a computer game from other [audiovisual] media".
When discussing real-time creation of spatial signatures simulating various acoustic spaces, "[T]he simulation process literally turns the relationship between source and surrounding, as observed by Rick Altman on its head. The user follows an inductive process from isolated sound to an assumption about the surrounding space."
"The kinaesthetic control over the acousmatisation and visualisation of sound objects in the game environment is a key factor in creating unique spatial experiences when playing computer games."
Promotes the terms user environment and game environment. Differentiates between sounds originating from the user's environment (bedroom etc.) or hardware mediating the sound (speakers, headphones etc.) and sounds originating from the game.
Discusses the notion of a 'sound object' and its original meaning as coined by the composer Pierre Schaeffer in 1966. Schaeffer proposed reduced listening to describe listening to the physical and perceptual properties of sound devoid of semantic meaning. Stockburger makes the point that while such a notion is useful when analyzing game audio, semantic properties of sound are used when the game player constructs relationships between the audio and visual material presented.
The analysis of sound by use in Metal Gear Solid 2 is: Speech sound objects. Effect sound objects. Zone sound objects. Score sound objects (musical score). Interface sound objects.
Takes up Christian Metz's point that there is no such thing as off-screen sound as opposed to on-screen sound and that sound has been conceptualized by technicians in terms relating to the visual.
Acousmatic is a Pythagorean term that describes the distance between the point of hearing and the point of origin of sound, specifically to the distance separating disciples from an intoning priest hidden behind a curtain. It later became a part of the electro-acoustic and Musique Concrète tradition in its first sense above. Michel Chion uses it, and transforms its meaning somewhat, to describe particular relationships between sound and vision in film.
Stockburger, A. (2006). The rendered arena: Modalities of space in video and computer games. Unpublished thesis PhD, University of the Arts, London.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 15/05/2008, 15:04
"The sound theoretician R. Murray Schafer considers Aivilik culture as an example for the reversal of visual dominance developed in the European Renaissance. He points out that within the Eskimo culture acoustic space influences and supersedes visual space."
"With the exception of a number of text-based games, the overwhelming majority [of computer games] have to be regarded as audiovisual kinaesthetic artefacts and the relationship between sound and image lies at the centre of the gaming experience."
"[...] it is quite obvious that a mode of reduced listening will not be achieved during the playing of an audiovisual game, simply because one is drawn to construct relations between the visual and auditory information. It is, however, possible to describe sound qualities that are inherently spatial, independent of an indexical connection to their source."
"[...] there is no “natural” relationship between a visual object and a sound, simply because all of these elements are brought together by an “artificial” program. This is not an entirely new phenomenon, since quite clearly in the case of film the relationship between the visual and the audible is also artificially established during the post-production phase. Still it could be argued that in the case of digital games there is an even higher degree of artificiality, since so many of the objects in play are part of imaginary universes."
"[Effect sound objects may be] classified as being linked to the avatar, the game characters, objects, and events."
"Game music has a huge emotional impact on the player and it generally enhances the feeling of immersion."
"In a computer game, while there also exists a set of fixed relations between sound objects and visual objects, the temporal process of visualization and acousmatisation is much more flexible and open to variation. This state of affairs makes it necessary to regard acousmatic functions in a computer game as dynamic functions. There is a constant flux between user-controlled acousmatisation and visualisation on the one hand, and the scripted behaviour designed by game developers to prepare situations of suspense."
"Immersive functions of sounds within the game space depend on low frequencies and the diffusion of individual sound events."
Stockburger proposes five spatializing functions of sound objects: Acousmatic function – defines the relation between a sound object and the visibility of the related visual element. Indexical function – delivers information that is vital for the gameplay (e.g. ticking sound of bomb). Spatial signature function – is present when the surrounding space affects the qualities of sound objects (e.g. echo, reverb). Motion function – defines the motion of sound objects. Motoric function – simulates movement or motion (motor sounds in racing or flying games, footstep sounds in FPS games).
Wenzel, E. M. (1992). Localization in virtual acoustic displays. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 1(1), 80–107.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 28/02/2018, 08:15
Enumerates some useful features of sound: heard in 3D simultaneously. tends to produce a state of alertness. is detected far earlier than a visual signal. The above aided and abetted by the fact that humans are "extremely sensitive to changes in an acoustic signal over time."
"The combination of veridical spatial cues with good principles of iconic design could provide an extremely powerful and information-rich display that is also quite easy to use."
"...the primary difficulties for synthesizing spatial information in virtual acoustic displays will be ensuring reliable elevation discrimination and the elimination or, at least, minimization of reversals."
A survey of the current (1992) state of localization research in acoustics. Critique of the duplex theory (IID and ITD) and mention of the filtering effect of the pinna in both azimuth and elevation detection when combined with duplex theory. In-head localisation (IHL) over headphones; listeners fail to externalise sound. Externalisation may be aided by the addition of environmental cues while familiarity with the sound (its frequency specturm) may also help. Discussion on distance perception -- humans are poor at it.

1 - 20 | 21 - 21