Personalizing sonic interactions

What we hear is the basis for meaning-making processes. We recognize intentions and continuously react to sounds. Digital objects and processes produce information that is often invisible.

Sound has many benefits as a display of information: it is omnidirectional, it can affect mood, and has the ability to direct our attention in an instant. Personal preferences in sound and music play a major role in the way we experience designed sonic interactions.

To date, there is no systematic, evidence-based, approach that takes advantage of personal preferences as a basis for sonic interaction design.

To explore our research topic, we will develop sonic personalization design tools and use them to create three different fully-fledged sonic interaction designs deployed and studied in realistic home settings, with different users, in the domain of sustainable consumption. This will let us probe when and how to personalize sounds.

The designs will be based on participatory design approaches, historically-informed sound design processes developed in prior research, and large longitudinal user studies conducted in the KTH Live-in lab.

The project will provide a way for stakeholder groups to participate in the design of their own everyday digital objects, as well as opportunities for expression and creativity.

These sonic personalization tools will support the increasing need for sonification of interactive objects, Internet of Things infrastructures, and novel digitally-based media.