An Audio Analysis of Home
Virtual Reality / Sound Design / Research
The pandemic presented shifted and intensified notions of home. It’s changed the ways we can exist together, and also illuminated the ways we exist in solitude. This experience utilizes sound data collection to understand notions of home during the pandemic. The sounds are compiled into a collaborative soundscape using spatial ambisonic audio. The audio is paired with a virtual reality experience of light passing through a 3D rendered building.
As a form of data collection, participants provided audio samples of their homes through the Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing platform used to source data that requires human intelligence. The request was to submit a short audio recording of your home. No other information was collected. Participants were informed that the audio would be used publicly. Roughly 50 audio recordings were submitted and all recordings were collected during the Summer of 2020.
The audio was then used to create a collaborative soundscape. The audio was edited as a spatial ambisonic file, which allows the audio to respond to the position of the listener’s head — creating a more immersive experience.
The audio was then used to create a collaborative soundscape. The audio was edited as a spatial ambisonic file, which allows the audio to respond to the position of the listener’s head — creating a more immersive experience.
The soundscape is paired with a virtual reality experience of light passing through a 3D rendering of a home, as a measure of time passing.
This activity was made possible by an Artist Grant through the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council with funds provided by the McKnight Foundation.
This activity was made possible by an Artist Grant through the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council with funds provided by the McKnight Foundation.
