Sonispace: a simulated-space interface for sound design and experimentation

TL;DR

Sonispace introduces an intuitive spatial interface for sound design that leverages real-world sound-space relations, making audio production accessible and engaging for novices through immediate visual and audio feedback.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel spatial interface for sound design that simplifies audio production for beginners by mimicking real-world sound physics and providing real-time feedback.

Findings

Participants found Sonispace accessible for novices.

The interface effectively visualizes sound relationships.

Users reported an engaging mixing experience.

Abstract

The world of audio production and design has long been a difficult one to break into, requiring expertise and a working knowledge of the standard digital audio paradigms. This paper describes a novel interface that makes audio production and design more intuitive for novices, using sound-to-space relations that people have learned throughout daily life, such as the roles of barriers and distance in sound perception. The spatial interface for Sonispace allows users to quickly see the relationships between sound-emitting and sound-effecting objects, and to receive audio feedback as they make changes to the space. Algorithms were developed to resemble real-world sonic physics while being efficient enough to provide a user with immediate audio feedback. A prototype of the interface was tested by a group of participants, who confirmed that the software is accessible by novices and that the spatial interface is an engaging way of mixing audio.