Aesthetic potentials of distance in spatial sound for immersive environments
View/ Open
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Spatial sound is a vital component in immersive experiences. Environments such as VR or 360o CAVEs elicit new possibilities for sound. Research has explored spatial sound in terms of azimuth perception or quality evaluation, yet auditory distance perception is relatively under-researched. There is a notable absence of work concerning the aesthetic potentials of spatial sound generally, and distance specifically. Often, diegetic sound in immersive environments is conservatively approached, conceding to environ- mental realism. This is particularly so for cinematic work. The complex affordances of these nascent environments however, far exceed a strategy of simple simulation. However, just as this systemic com- plexity potentiates aesthetics, so too does it complicate their achievement. Experimental approaches to aesthetics require time and resource to enact, and can compete with plausibility - a vital component of an immersive experience. Workflows, not yet settled into conventions, are themselves entangled, dynamic and divergent. Technical trial-and-error may be unavoidable. This research goes some way to preventing aesthetic trial-and-error, by examining the aesthetic potentials of distance in immersive environments. It uses a Repertory Grid Technique-derived design, to consider both quantitative, perceptually robust data from listening tests, and qualitative data from interviews and self-reporting. In using ecologically valid stimuli, and focusing on audience responses, the conclusions of the work are meaningful to practitioners. Differences in perceptual accuracy are more significant than differences in expertise, when categorising audiences’ free verbalisations of the displacements. Accuracy itself is not a function of expertise. Audience preferences for sound-image distance displacements are centred around themes of expecta- tion, immersion, engagement, sensuality, emotion, attention, intention, salience, and artistic, as well as technical, proficiency. With these in mind, disparate work from the fields of sound-image practice, cognitive psychology and philosophical aesthetics, are synthesised. This offers a speculative context for displacement strategies which are aesthetic, yet plausible. Such competing needs are notable in the immersive experience, which situates the audience within a scene, and thus elicits both an aesthetic and adaptive response. Findings demonstrate that distance can be used aesthetically. There is a hierarchy of needs in audience preferences for distance displacements. A Gestalt approach is sufficient, and displacements should be created clearly, so that they are obviously aesthetic, and audiences do not need to exert excess cognitive effort to decode them.
Authors
Mcarthur, ACollections
- Theses [4223]