The Silent Dome is a spatial music instrument that constructs a setting for deaf people to create and listen to music collectively. The sound is controlled by gestures through the players’ interactions with one another as well as with the architectural space. The gestures of the players are computed via a series of ultrasonic sensors and the data is used as the sound control input. The collaborative musical composition is output via a series of vibration motors, bone conduction transducers and arrays of LED lights that are embedded into the structure and they interface with the players’ bodies. The aim of this project is not to ‘prescribe’ a gadget to the hard of hearing community so that they can interact with music. This project rather aims to construct an emphaty space where the hard of hearing people, along with people who have optimal hearing, can interact with music without having the hard of hearing individuals feel like they need a fix / an aid to be a part of the musical dialogue. The project aims to enlarge the scope of sonic interaction from exclusively “ear” to the entire body through architectural dynamics.
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ARDUINO STEP 1 [SERIAL OBJECT]
STEP 2
MAX MSP
STEP 3
PROCESSING
STEP 4
ARDUINO [FIRMATA]
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# 1 An ultrasonic proximity sensor is embedded into the shown strut joint in a way that the sensor covers the gestural activity zone of the participant sitting beneath it.
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There are four ultrasonic sensors in the pavilion as there are four users. Each sensor writes the proximity data, depending on the gestures of the player underneath it, into a serial object (on an arduino).
# 2 The proximity reading of each (Arduino) serial object is mapped into a frequency range on a specific MIDI channel in an audio synthesizer software (MAX MSP).
Since there are four ultrasonic sensors, there are four different serial objects, each of which is reading one player’s gesture proximity and mapping it into its particular MIDI channel. The overall composition is the juxtaposition of these four MIDI channels. The composition is fed into the BC transducers directly from MAX MSP output without further processing. The proximity and frequence are inverse proportioned: As the limbs get closer to the sensor, frequency decrease and vice versa. A bone conduction transducer is in fact a simple oscilator that creates a magnetic field between two cones around which a string is wind. As the string crosses from one cone to the another, change in the magnetic field vibrates the string. This vibration is then amplified via a small metal piece connecting the string and into a large canopy covering the cones. This metal canopy vibrates as the string does. ---> When one presses this vibrating surface againts their skull, bones constituting the skull start vibrating; so do cochlea starts vibrating since it is an extention of the skull bones. Therefore the sound waves bypass the ear canal and fire the neurons that initiate the auditory neural path directly.
# 3 The rhythm data of the each player’s MIDI channel is reflected, via Processing, on the vibration motors in the tubular seats and on the LED arrays on the clear struts.
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The seats are made of aliminum to ensure effective vibration transmission. The bases sustain the tubular structural character of the geodesic dome and they are designed in a way that when a participant sits on a base, two tubes at the upper surface gets anchored to the sit bones (Ischial Tuberosity) of the participant for the haptic experience to influence the entire body. Moreover, the LED strips are connected to the same input source as the vibration motors because both elements provide feedback on rhythm; except that the LEDs provide visual feedback and the vibration motors provide tactile feedback.
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evolution of the architectural form The co-evolution of architectural form and mechatronics of the project (circle > sphere > geodesic dome) is induced by the ambition of creating a space of empathy. Structural decisions were informed by contextual aspirations as well as by electronic and mechanic infrastructure.
1. Circle: Thanks to the
sign language “deaf people
already have a strong cultural identity built around a visual-kinetic mode of communication” (Bauman as qtd in Hollander, 2015). Therefore
using bodily engagement as a means for sonic creation is well-known to the hard of hearing people and is also a valuable empathy practice for the hearing participants.
Because the main interface for controlling the music is one’s gestures, the pavilion has a circular spatial arrangement to allow clear sight lines so that everyone can participate in the visual conversation.
2. Sphere: Due to the need
of acommodating the interactive interface required for gestural control, as well as the appropriate visual and haptic output channels, the circle
evolves to a dome in order to occupy the space in its full dimensions.
3. Geodesic Dome: Even though the composition created by the four players is only audible to the players, it is still crucial to exhibit the players’ gestural engagement with one another to the spectators in order to provide the spectators with an empathy space:
Spectators will be able to see the physical manifestation of the sound in human interaction but will not be able to hear the sound itself, which is exactly what hard of hearing people experience in their daily lives. In order to allow this visual linkage the dome was stripped down into its bones and was conceived as a geodesic dome.
Joel controls his part in the communal musical composition with his gestures and gets sound feedback via haptic, visual and auditory channels. Being a hard of hearing individual doesn’t prevent him from performing in The Silent Dome.
Joel (top, left) has conductive hearing loss. He was able to hear and create music in The Silent Dome along with another hard of hearing fellow, Tyler (immediate left). The other players were Severine and Veronika who do not suffer from any hearing loss.
The structure was not planned for a specific location but for a particular yet global audience (where on the earth are there no hard of hearing individuals?). In order to encode this universality into the structure itself, the struts of the dome were designed in a way to prioritize easy transportation, assembly and disassembly. Therefore almost the entire structure is in fact made of thick paper (thickness: 0.8mm/1/32�). Thick planar sheets were scored on certain axes to fold into a tube and two facing edges were connected via press fit joints. This method of strut fabrication is not only lightweight but also provides full control over the embedded electronics throughout the dome’s lifecycle: the structure sustains its form even if the press fit joints are released on multiple struts.
The ways in which I have documented The Silent Dome project during the 2015/16 academic year:
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I made a website documenting the every stage of the project
for 4.587
I wrote an extended abstract for an imaginary conference
for 21G.227
I wrote a 15 pages long paper enclosing The Silent Dome
Although I have partially engaged with this project in these three classes, the majority of the work for The Silent Dome was done outside of a framework of a class. This project is the result of a self-guided (and self-funded) work produced merely to satisfy my urge to explore the possible implications and applications of a musical space for the deaf as well as emergent properties of such a social system. My interest in emergent systems also encoraged me to have a closer look at biology and biological engineering where my current work (as of January 2016) resides. Thank you for your consideration.