Mapping and interaction strategies for performing environmental sound

Abstract

While the design of computational audio models for real-time generation of sound has been gaining increasing attention in the field of virtual reality and games over the last few years, questions related to expressivity and human performability have remained largely unexplored. Unlike in the design of interactive sonic artefacts a performable model requires a different approach to parametrisation and interaction. A model of a squeaking door is presented along with three contrasting mapping strategies between a generic touch-based interface and parameters controlling phenomenologically meaningful sound qualities. Each of these mapping strategies is evaluated in a controlled study based around a set of four metrics proposed by the authors. Correlations between quantitative and qualitative data verify the evaluation procedure for each of these metrics.