An Auditory Time Travel in OpenSpace

Abstract

This report presents the work of a master thesis which aims to investigate if sonifica- tion can be used to convey large distances in space using the space visualization software OpenSpace in a dome theater with a 7.1 surround sound setup. The sonification was com- bined with the visuals from OpenSpace to play older songs when travelling further away from earth in OpenSpace. The sonification was implemented using the real time audio syn- thesis program SuperCollider which communicated with OpenSpace using Open Sound Control to send data and control the sonification. The sonification module in OpenSpace was modified and expanded to send relevant data used in the sonification. The imple- mentation was split into three stages that were implemented chronologically, transitions between sounds, speed of change between sounds and surround sound implementation. Alternative implementations were made for the first two stages, evaluations were con- ducted after each stage was implemented and the user feedback was used to inform the sonification design and chose an implementation if there were alternatives. The overall sonification was evaluated in the first and final stage enabling comparison between the sonification during all of the development. The final evaluation was used to answer the research questions and asses the surround implementation.
Cross fade transitions were chosen motivated by the results of the first evaluation, the overall sonification showed promising results with many participants expressing positive feedback. A threshold value of three was chosen when changing the songs motivated by the results of the second evaluation. It was concluded that the surround sound implemen- tation was unsuccessful in the final evaluation. The overall sonification results between the first and final evaluation were similar, showing that the dome theater may not be nec- essary for this sonification to convey the large distances. A metaphorical time travel was conveyed by mapping pop songs to light years using parameter mapping. The sonification helped audiences understand the distance they traveled in OpenSpace better although the accuracy worsened with distance from earth. The transitions between songs were pleasant but too quick. The sonification might be improved with further development.

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