Nipun Kumar

cell phone displayed in the crit

Final Project - Mobile Tech. Workshop

Concept- To create a mobile phone app which gives us an audio-map of different soundscapes that we work or move through in a day. Soundscape means spaces with different tonal, volumetric and textural qualities. The sounds and volume in a space and place change constantly vis-à-vis its visual perception. The term volume is a very interesting word for me to measure the quantity of sound. Volume means the amount of space filled by a particular medium in space. Sound and light are measurable scientifically but in normal routine it’s just a judgment of the human perception. When we say the volume is loud then we not only relate to the intensity of the sound but also to the amount of space it fills, hence loud sounds fill larger spaces and low volume fills smaller spaces. Understanding a space in terms of it relationship to sound is particularly interesting to me and this project will attempt to understand this complex phenomenon through a cell phone since it is one of the only objects that is tagged with us all the time every where.

Description- ‘Silence’ like all the context aware mobile tools around us (for example weather forecast, pollution levels, traffic information etc.) will map out different noise levels that a mobile device user will move in. Unknowingly we transit through various types of spaces/environments/contexts which have a certain sound level to them and ignore or biologically adjust to that scene. This applet will have two interfaces to let you know about the sound levels around you (Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz); one hertz is one vibration per second. Specifically in a human, we have a 20- 20,000 Hz frequency range, and an intensity range of 120dB).

First with an audio output; every increase or decrease in 10dB will play a pre recorded sound which will play “silence” calibrated at the same level of its environment. This will cause a consciousness telling the person and people in vicinity how loud it is around him/them, since it is difficult for us to detect the transition from one sound zone to another because it is usually a very smooth transition in the natural setting. So here is a scenario on how this would work- imagine you have your mobile device in your pocket or purse and the app is running- you are in a party or a plaza or a bus stop, as people start gathering and socializing the sound levels change. The device will output “silence” to match the same pitch around you with every 10dB shift in the range. Nobody will know where the sound came from and what it means except for you. (I will focus on this section and try to realize this interface)

Second it will log how many times you made transition from one sound zone to the other and create a visualization which can be viewed at the end of the day. This visualization can also have GPS tags and the volume of “silence” mapped on it so you can review and see which place was how loud over the day. May be through out the month one can begin to see some patterns emerge out of the sound statistics generated by the application and you can have a good sense of how the sound operates in a particular space and place.

Results of mockup- When I was testing the prototype that I made, I realized the position of the phone changed the results drastically. The phone when in the pocket analyses much muted sounds as compared to what the human ear would be subjected to. Secondly, the quality of the recorder and microphone on the device is not as great as it is not designed to do field recordings and thirdly, the speaker can never get as loud as the potential of sounds for a particular space and hence the output gets lost when places are really loud, large and populated with more number of people.

is seen as a social behavioral activist and that amuses a lot people as they wish they could ask obnoxious people to talk within their limits. Also to see other people’s reactions on the sound output is a funny moment. But more importantly it is for the phone user himself and to make him aware of how he travels through different soundscapes throughout the day. The notion of sound as a place and space drives the project and informs us on how our mind can filter sounds depending on the engagement of the activity preoccupying us.

In terms of getting attention of the people in a public space, it is very difficult to do that just by one sound output “silence” even if it is at maximum volume. People not engaged in a discussion directly with the bearer of the phone tend to ignore the sound. It works well in round table conferences/meetings/dinners or quite places like studios and offices.

Project Intent- Because the project has a sound output in a social setting it makes interesting remarks on how loudly or softly people speak in public spaces respecting other peoples audio spaces. The phone here is seen as a social behavioral activist and that amuses a lot people as they wish they could ask obnoxious people to talk within their limits. Also to see other people’s reactions on the sound output is a funny moment. But more importantly it is for the phone user himself and to make him aware of how he travels through different soundscapes throughout the day. The notion of sound as a place and space drives the project and informs us on how our mind can filter sounds depending on the engagement of the activity preoccupying us.

Equipment- Nokia N95 with Simbian Platform and programming in Python.

Silence demo on YouYube