A silent world

Rambling thoughts on sonification (use of sound for data representation) as a mode of communication.

In an email correspondence with Gregory Kramer (“maestro behind sonification”- http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1214931.htm ), he remarked, “There is a strong visual bias in our culture, particularly in how technology is configured. We just don't think aurally, at least not yet. Also, I think the sonification solutions are not yet all that good.”

I think of my scooter and I chuckle! So many times by the sound it produces I can tell that the petrol poured lacked quality, the sound that the door makes, tells me who has come in, the sound of the bucket filling ..such examples from daily life reaffirm my faith in usage of sound for real time communication. Though it is ironical that at the same time we are struggling to reduce the noise, in vacuum cleaners, car engines, doors almost everything. Trying to make a sound proof world. We are trying to make our acceptance of sound even lesser, hence more and more sound will be perceived as noise, which makes the designer’s job even tougher. (....)

read the full text at: http://curvedrays.blogspot.com/2007/05/silent-world.html