Collective Experience of Music Performances with Augmented Acoustics

Aalto Acoustics Lab

Collective Experience of Music Performances with Augmented Acoustics

We try to measure psychophysical responses of listeners when they are listening to music in different room acoustics. The room acoustics can be modified with active acoustics systems which are also developed in this project.

Description

Why do we listen to music together? Today's technology allows consuming music outside of the performance venue. We can listen to recorded music and even live broadcasting to our homes. Why are people go into concert venues? Is it just the technical fidelity, or is there an experience that can only be found in person? Previous research has found that an audience experiences collectively - their bodily responses synchronize by being in the same place. Room acoustics is considered a key mediator of the shared soundscapes and it gives context, fuse musical elements, and induce emotional states. In this project, we study the collective experience of the audience and musicians and how the room acoustics impact it. We develop augmented acoustics (i.e. active acoustics) that can seamlessly alter the room acoustics to alter the soundscapes during a concert subtly.