Sound Research

"Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell. You can welcome him or he"

"The artist Doug Aitken's house, a block away from the Pacific Ocean, is in tune with its surroundings in more ways than one. In an exclusive video, Aitken, with the help of his girlfriend Gemma Ponsa and a few of their friends, activate its more hidden charms, revealing that it's a house that sounds as cool as it looks."

"Artist Neil Harbisson was born completely color blind, but these days a device attached to his head turns color into audible frequencies. Instead of seeing a world in grayscale, Harbisson can hear a symphony of color - and yes, even listen to faces and paintings. "

"As cars become more and more silent, the question "what should cars sound like?" becomes more and more relevant. "

"For the first time an exhibition is dedicated to the fascinating combination of art, sound and motion, and generates a pulsating world of gentle tones and impressive sounds."

"URB is a soundscape storage and analysis system idealized by José Alberto Gomes and developed in partnership with Diogo Tudela. URB's goal is to keep record of the sonic profile of Porto, allowing researchers and artists to use the dataset freely within their own projects."

Using little more than a few perforated sheets of plastic and a staggering amount of number crunching, Duke engineers have demonstrated the world's first three-dimensional acoustic cloak. The new device reroutes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there.

"Ever wonder why your voice sounds so much better when you sing in the shower? It has to do with an acoustic "blur" called reverberation. From classical to pop music, reverberation "makes music sound nicer," acoustic engineer Trevor Cox tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. It helps blend the sound, "but you don't want too much," he warns."

"J Milo Taylor and Joel Cahen - A History of Sound Art (1:25:25), audio with accompanying PDF, 2009."

Podcasts surveying the history of sound collage since the begining. The program mentions three types of sound collages. Sequential sound collage that uses an editing technique that is not dissimilar to film editing technique which later developed to Electroacoustic and Acousmatic music. (most Musique Concréte, cut ups, Negativland, Cassetteboy etc) Sound collage that augments a particular rhythm, musical and narrative theme (some hip hop, bastard pop, 2manyDJs, dancefloor mash ups, most music that has elements of sound collage) Simultaneous sound collage which superimposes layers of different musical sources over each other. The last category is the one this podcast focuses on for the latter half of the 20th Century until today. Warning:: PART ONE is a bit more of a difficult listen due to the experimental and conceptual nature of the sound collages in the early days."

Ricardo Huisman - Super Sonic Sound Scape, 2008

"Interface: Echolocation Headphones. 10/12 Echolocation Headphones is a project that studies new applications for parametric sound technologies. This study emphasizes on augmentation of the auditory sense by enhancing our current ability of processing omnidirectional sound by providing a focal point to audition, similar to a visual focal point. Currently, human echolocation is being explored by the blind who have reached an increased understanding of sound and spatial relationships. In other species echolocation is facilitated by different evolutionary traits that differ from the current human senses. These headphones provide the opportunity for focal audition similar to a focal point in vision, depicting a more detailed spatial image of the parameters of the space surrounding the subject. "

An audio work and installation based on the moment when an orchestra gets in tune, before a performance. An event that I wish could last forever, which is exactly what 'Stay Tuned' is about. For this installation piece consisting of a multiple speaker setup, Rutger Zuydervelt (better known under his Machinefabriek moniker) asked 150 artists to record an 'A', the note an orchestra normally tunes to. Each recorded note has it's own characteristics, and is part of the whole.

"David Hendy, media historian at the University of Sussex, host of the thirty-part BBC Radio series, Noise: A Human History, and the author of Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening, talks about the social history of noise and kicks off the call-in on the question of sound and creativity. What sounds sparks your creativity or do you need absolute quiet?"

"A call-in segment: Tell us a story about sound in your life, any true story. Good or bad, describe a particular relationship with noise and sound. Call 212-433-9692, or post your story below."

"Emily Thompson, historian at Princeton University and the author of Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900-1933, talks about her study of sound and her website featuring sounds of New York City in the 1920's."

"Noise is the top quality-of-life complaint to 311, and those complaints are on the rise. But our relationship with noise is very complicated, with lots of advantages, too. What noises drive you crazy, calm you down, damage your hearing or peace of mind, help you create? Callers sound off on noise and we hear from guests, including environmental psychologist Arline Bronzaft, acoustics consultant Alan Fierstein, sound historians Emily Thompson and David Hendy, and hearing specialist Eric Smouha."

"Arline Bronzaft, environmental psychologist on the board of GrowNYC, talks about the effects of noise and offers practical advice for dealing with it. Alan Fierstein, an acoustic consultant and the owner and founder of Acoustilog, joins her to share tales of noise mitigation from the 5,000+ jobs he's handled."

"Eric Smouha, associate professor of otolaryngology and director of otology and neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, answers questions about the inevitable effect of noise over time -- hearing loss."

Events and reading matter at the intersection of science and culture.