Sounding Media: Designers and Users
| Sounding Media: Designers and Users
2014/2015 MA Media Culture Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Maastricht University Coordinator & main teacher
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| Intended learning outcomes (more on programme level)
The course deepens the understanding of the field of sound studies already acquired in the module Sound Technologies and Cultural Practices. Where the Sound Technologies module focused on musical practices, the focus of this course will be sounds of a non-musical nature. The course also picks up the questions of the shifting boundary between real and virtual, first addressed in the course on Real Virtualities, by exploring the working of sounds in, for instance, video games and science-fiction movies. By investigating how non-musical sounds are involved in new media practices – such as Web 2.0 – the course explores a new angle for thinking about the same developments that were dealt with in module 1, Transformations in Media Culture. The course also offers a new perspective on the mp3 – one of the central technologies for the developments discussed in the Sharing Cultures modules – by scrutinising the assumptions about the listeners that are built into this media format. Methodologically, the course builds upon previous experiences with qualitative empirical research, especially ethnographic approaches which were first introduced in the modules Sharing Cultures and Sound Technologies and Cultural Practices. |
| Learning objectives (course specific)
In this module, you will:
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| Objective statement (course description)
A beep alerts you to the fact that you have received a new e-mail. The rattling sounds of a machine gun draw you into the experience of a first-person shooter game. An audio guide helps you make sense of the objects in a museum. These are just a few examples of how sound is involved in our experience of media. Very often, we take sounds such as these for granted – we may not even properly notice that they are there, let alone reflect on how they inform and shape our experiences. For a long time, scholars in fields such as philosophy and media studies have focused on understanding our world as a “visual culture,” pointing to the dominance of the sense of sight in our societies and to the many visual metaphors that are deeply engrained in our language. In the last few decades, however, this has started to change – a growing number of scholars have called into question the dominance of vision, and have requested more scholarly attention for practices of hearing and listening. The increasing attention paid to sound is not just a scholarly matter, however. On a more practical level, a growing industry is dedicated to the design of sounds, not just for video games and action movies, but also for websites, consumer appliances and museum displays. Sounds are everywhere in our mediated surroundings – and even where there is (almost) silence, more often than not, that silence was deliberately created rather than the result of an inadvertent absence. In this course, we pay close attention to the non-musical sounds that surround us in our everyday environments. We consider, in particular, the technologies and media that shape, and are shaped by, our aural experiences and expectations. In doing so, we want to focus on practices of sound design and media use. In particular, we want to explore how design and use intersect. How, for instance, are particular imaginations of the listener (as attentive or distracted, as hearing or deaf, etc.) inscribed into certain technologies and media? And what kind of sonic conventions and icons do designers make use of to communicate meaning through sound? |
| Type of course :
Skills course |
| Target group :
Master’s students |
| Pedagogical approach:
Problem-based Learning |
| Activities
We will begin our explorations by attending to the different ways and contexts in which we listen to non-musical sounds. As we will find in the first assignment, different professional groups have developed their own modes of listening to sounds that are relevant to them. In the second assignment, we turn our attention to a professional group that design sounds for other users to listen to – sounds used in films, games, ads or consumer products. As we will see, sound designers have developed particular conventions and procedures for the design of sounds, but also for the testing and evaluation of them. In the third assignment, we will zoom further into these sound design practices by exploring some of the sonic conventions that sound designers use to create links between sounds and meanings. In the fourth assignment, we will turn to studying how sound is related to issues of accessibility and participation: for instance, how sound can break down, but also create, barriers of access for users with visual or hearing impairments. Indeed, technologies and media often already have particular imaginations of the user inscribed in them – not just whether they are hearing or deaf, or seeing or blind, but also whether they are individuals or collectives, or whether they are technologically competent or inept. It is this issue – the assumptions that designers make about the eventual users of technologies – that we will turn to in the fifth assignment. Finally, in the sixth assignment, we will turn to the boundary between noise and silence, and discuss how sound designers work not just on creating sound, but also silences. Lectures and Skills Trainings Week 1: practicalities. (based on selected readings) Week 2:
Week 3: Week 4: 2. Final Presentations In the first skills training, we will discuss the experimental methods used by sound designers to evaluate the quality of their designs. In preparation for this meeting, attend the lecture of sound designer Tom Langhorst, and read the following texts:
The first two texts give an idea of the kinds of methods that sound designers often use to evaluate the quality of sound designs in their laboratories. Compare these methods to the qualitative, ethnographic methods that you have encountered in the previous module. The third text is an example of a qualitative study, using video analysis, about a museum display (although not focusing on sound). What are the benefits of these different methodological approaches? What different kinds of research questions can be addressed with the different approaches? We will discuss these questions during the skill trainings, but come prepared by thinking in advance about how these laboratory methods of sound designers compare to the field research of ethnographers. In the second skills training, we will consider how it is possible to combine elements of qualitative and experimental research. Before the tutorial, read the following text:
Think about how the authors combine experimental and ethnographic elements in their research, and about how you can fruitfully combine them in your own research project. Before this second skills training, prepare a research design for your own project. The first half of the training will be dedicated to discussing the combination of experimental and ethnographic research more generally, while the second half will be devoted to discussing your own research designs. In the third skills training, we will be acquainted with the method of video analysis. In addition to the meetings of the skills training, you will keep a research diary, detailing the progress of your project, which you post on the blog of one your team- members. In week 1, your research diary should mention the names of your teammates, the topic of your research project, and a few sentences explaining the assumptions or interests that led you to pick this subject. This research diary is due on Wednesday at noon. In week 2, your research diary should describe your research design and strategy. This research diary is due on Monday at 9am. In week 3, your research diary should describe first results of your research and some ideas about the interpretation of these results. If applicable, you can also describe refinements of the research design posted in the previous week. This research diary is due on Friday at noon. |
| Assessment of learning:
As the final assignment, you will be working in teams of 2-3 students to conduct a user study of a specific sound design and prepare a research report together. The requirements for the project are:
– An audio guide or museum display – A piece of software or an app – A household appliance (e.g. electric toothbrush, coffeemaker, vacuum cleaner, camera) – A videogame – An assistive technology (e.g. comparison of different screen readers) o An informative (rather than artistic) sound installation – An interface (e.g. tom-tom, alarm system)
The detailed requirements for the assignment will be explained in the introductory lecture and are recapitulated on the last page of the course book. You will also give a short presentation of your results in the final week of the course. Although this presentation will not be part of the assessment for the final assignment, it does count towards the participation component (+/- 0.5 points) of your final grade. |
| Effect (witness account, evaluation of the course) |
| Additional biblio sources
Assignment 1 – Listening to non-musical sounds
And read two of the three following cases:
Assignment 2 – Sounds just right: sound design practices
And read about two of the three following domains:
Online Resources:
Assignment 3 – Auditory icons and earcons: the meaning of non-musical sounds
German speaking students should read (instead of Schafer)
Optional further reading:
Assignment 4 – Sound and disability: from assistive technologies to universal design
Optional further reading:
Online Resources:
Assignment 5 – Imagining the listener
Optional further reading:
Assignment 6 – Noise & Silence
And one of the following texts:
Optional further reading:
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