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I chose the article ‚Vocal Vibrations: A Multisensory Experience of the Voice‘ because I was doing my design&research on multi-sensory experiences in my first semester. The project’s emphasis on enabling participants to uniquely and interactively explore their voices through sound and touch aligns closely with my interest in creating immersive sensory experiences that bridge the gap between technology and human expression.

Vocal Vibrations Installation

One of the most fascinating aspects of the article is the introduction of the ORB device, which converts vocal input into tactile vibrations, providing participants with a tangible and engaging way to connect with their voices. This innovative technology not only improves understanding of vocal production, but also provides a new platform for individuals to explore the nuances of vocal sounds in a hands-on way. For example, ORB allows users to feel the physical vibrations of their voice in their hands, creating a direct and intimate connection to the act of vocalization.

The ORB

Additionally, the positive response of participants, with 83% reporting feeling calm, exploratory, and deeply connected to the musical experience, highlights the installation’s profound impact on personal well-being and self-expression. Comments such as „Reminds me of when I was a little girl, sitting on my mother’s lap with my ear against her chest“ and „I want one of these ORBs to help me relax at work or before bed“ underscore the emotionality. The resonance and transformative potential of the Vocal Vibrations project. By encouraging participants to pay attention to the range of vocal sounds and vibrations, the installation encourages rich musical experiences that focus on the individual voice.

In conclusion, „Vocal Vibrations“ not only demonstrates the power of technology to enhance personal well-being and creative expression, but also lays a strong foundation for future research and applications in the field of expressive interfaces and interactive installations. Combining art, technology and human emotion, the project offers a compelling glimpse into the possibilities of using sound and touch to deepen our connection with our voices and explore new dimensions of self-expression.

„Catch Your Breath“ is a novel interactive audiovisual biofeedback system developed at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Initially designed to assist patients during 4D computed tomography (CT) scans, this system uses musical cues to help regulate breathing, thereby reducing motion-induced image distortion.

Bridging Music with Medical Technology
This system originated from a collaboration with Stanford’s Department of Radiation Oncology. It aims to mitigate the imaging artifacts in lung cancer diagnostics caused by irregular breathing patterns. By tracking the patient’s breathing through a webcam and a reflective cube, the system synchronizes a musical accompaniment to the patient’s breath cycle. The music adjusts in real time, encouraging patients to breathe steadily to harmonize the melody with the accompaniment. This method has shown potential in increasing the accuracy of 4D-CT scans.

From Medical Equipment to Museum Installation
Adapting the technology for public interaction, the project evolved into a museum installation. Here, visitors wear a pendant embedded with an IR sensor that tracks their breathing. The system adjusts the tempo of a stored musical piece—selected from classical and Baroque repertoire—according to the wearer’s breathing pattern. This setup not only makes the installation accessible but also engaging, allowing users to control the music with their breath, promoting relaxation and slow, regular breathing patterns.

Technical Insights and Future Directions
The hardware of „Catch Your Breath“ includes an inexpensive webcam modified with a slide film as an ambient light filter, highlighting the simplicity and accessibility of the technology. The software, developed in Max/MSP with Jitter, calculates the breathing cycle, adjusting the music’s tempo in real-time through MIDI sequencers.
As the project moves forward, the team at CCRMA plans to refine the system’s responsiveness and explore its potential on portable devices, making relaxation and therapeutic techniques more accessible to a broader audience.

Conclusion:
„Catch Your Breath“ is more than a technical innovation; it’s a bridge between art and science, making complex technology accessible and useful in everyday settings. This project not only exemplifies interdisciplinary collaboration but also illustrates how creative applications of technology can have broad and meaningful impacts, from medical diagnostics to public installations that enhance well-being.

COSMIC, described in a 2021 NIME publication, is a music tool that
brings the concept of AI-assisted creativity into the field of
music, much like ChatGPT does for text. It's designed to make music
composition more accessible, including those who may not have a lot
of knowledge around creating music. By using natural language
processing, COSMIC understands user inputs and converts them into
music in a generative way.

The tool's functionality is similar to that of ChatGPT in several
ways. Both are powered by AI to interpret human input and generate
creative output, though COSMIC solely focuses on music. This
parallel raises important considerations about the future of
creative professions. As AI technologies like COSMIC and ChatGPT
become more advanced, they could potentially change traditional
roles in their respective fields.

One key aspect of COSMIC is its potential to create a new type of
musician — one who can use AI to bring unique ideas to life without
needing to master instruments or composition theory. This could lead
to more innovative and diverse musical creations, since individuals
from various backgrounds could contribute their unique view and
creativity to music.

However, the rise of AI tools in creative industries also opens up
discussions about the authenticity of art. When an AI contributes
significantly to the process, it may challenge our traditional views
on authorship and creativity. Are the final products really human
creations, or are they collaborations between humans and machines?
And if it's a collaboration, how should we credit each contributor's
role?

Despite these points, the integration of AI like COSMIC in music
creation also sounds exciting. It gives a glimpse into a future
where anyone with an idea can explore music creation, potentially
leading to a richer, more varied musical landscape. Also, it might
inspire similar innovations in other creative fields.

This block aims to reflect on the Afraid to Own a Body composition by Lena Meinhardt and Eva DörrIt, which is a fixed media composition based on a poem by Emily Dickinson from around 1866. Eight channels were used for the performance, making the whole experience very immersive, and IRCAM’s Rave software was used in order to generate their sound material. Rave offers models for realtime deep learning based processing, and the model they trained for this piece learned both of their voice timbres, melting them together and generating a new modeled voice. The artists even mentioned they wanted to create something that would develop its own “consciousness”, as a reference to the artificial intelligence capabilities of the mentioned engine, and also a result of various hours feeding voice material to it, including a full spectrum of textures and also intelligible material. Max MSP was used for much of the processing, where the various sound files would be fed into the models. Regarding the composition, it was intended to contrast something that develops and then falls apart again, which matched with their use of intelligible sentences from the poem, such as the often heard “I am afraid to own a body” sentence compared to completely unintelligible voice material that was generated by the artificial intelligence. The whole sonic experience really suited the original poem, and it was a good representation of artificial intelligence capabilities applied to sound compositions.

This block aims to reflect on the Generative Audio Synthesis Workshop, where various new plugins from Audiolab were presented by Sina Bokesoy. One that specifically caught my attention was the Oceanic plugin, in which VST parameters can be controlled by 5 different superimposed waves. This waves have their motion determined by Gerstner’s trochoidales wave solutions, that model ocean water on a physical basis. The screenshot below represents the main engine of the plugin, which doesn’t generate sound, but can easily be coupled with other sound generating instruments. The resulting sounds were very enjoyable and interesting textures could be created by manipulating the waves direction, steepness and also its length. The engine concept aims to replicate sea motion, this natural phenomena which in itself never sounds boring, as one can listen to it for hours, to synthesizer motion. 

Other plugins were presented, such as the Thermo 2, where sonic textures could be created. The engine has a controlled entropy state which we can alter and increase instability. Fundamental 3 was another great plugin, inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, where test equipment related sounds could be used to generate unique synth textures.

During the Digithalia Festival – a festival for virtual theatre forms at Schauspielhaus Graz – we had the chance to watch Suit Your Body, a theatre computer game by Frauen und Fiktion (Berlin).

I’m often in places where people talk about „overweight“, where I ask: what „over“ are we talking about? „Over desirable“, „over morally good“, „over-…er“? Why is this „over“ necessary? – Natalie Rosenke

In Suit Your Body, a space is created where all the bodies are welcome. In an ethereal-looking like sauna, the game allows the player to navigate it, while being accompanied by a sonic narrative based on an interview with Natalie Rosenke, an expert on weight discrimination. The excerpt mentioned above represents the core of this project, where a new perspective on body beauty standards is practiced. Lots of questions are asked during the reflective monologue, reflecting on the roots of body discrimination. Why does the word fat have such a bad connotation? Why do we use the words corpulent or curvy instead of fat? The speaker embraces the term, questioning its connotation. 

Regarding the game production, the environment has the dynamic aspect of being able to move around the space, which changes according to day time – there are changes in light and also reflections – and regarding sound there are footsteps triggered when the character walks, as well as various ambient sounds, including water and sauna elements that would be reproduced at specific times, really matching the scenes. The sonic narrative, which was also produced as a radio play, seems to be linear and apart from the interview, there are also beautiful choirs that support the dialogue.

During the Digithalia Festival – a festival for virtual theatre forms at Schauspielhaus Graz – we had the chance to watch Decoding Bias, a multi-channel spatial video and sound installation.

The concept of this installation consists in having eight different types of Artificial Intelligences (AI’s) attending group therapy sessions. As the play starts, they encounter themselves in one of these sessions, and begin to express how their days have been, similarly to human therapy sessions. However, as the AI’s are built for different purposes, they all have different backgrounds and often disagree, creating lots of room for discussion which makes up most of the play. With these discussions, they are able to reflect upon the fact that their “thought patterns” come back to their human-made datasets, which in its core are often inaccurate, incomplete or incompatible, failing to represent the entire population. One of the biases that was discussed was regarding gender and racial stereotypes, where one of the AI’s couldn’t consider a black woman for a high status, leading work position, just because of being a black woman. 

Amidst other discussions, desert yoga and dancing sessions, this piece offers a speculative future scenario that enlightens the viewer and suggests reflection on this very present and sensitive topic, that might, or is already, affecting us humans.

Regarding the sound experience, I consider that the piece really benefited from the spatial aspect, as the viewers sit at the middle or next to the AI characters, which are positioned in the form of a circle and each voice is located at the respective AI position, making the whole experience more immersive. The music and sound compositions were also surrounding the viewer, with effects such as delay going through all the speakers and creating a great experience.