Rethinking Immersive Audio

Conference presentation


Parkinson, A. and Randell, J. (2023). Rethinking Immersive Audio. eXtending Reality: Immersive Design, Production and Technology . University of Portsmouth 11 - 11 Sep 2023
AuthorsParkinson, A. and Randell, J.
TypeConference presentation
Abstract

Musical experiences are often described as or aspire to be immersive. Immersive audio is seen as an innovative frontier of music, sometimes encompassing other cutting edge technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Dolby Atmos. However, conceptions of immersion remain reductive and simplistic. Through exploring how immersion is conceptualised in other domains, I interrogate the limits of immersive audio, and argue for a model of immersion that critically considers interactivity and participation. This draws on Small’s concept of musicking (1998) and Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of flow (2013).

Immersive audio generally means multichannel audio, involving multiple speakers (or rendered through headphones to appear as such). Immersion becomes a technical challenge solved by more or better configured speakers and ever more realistic spatialising algorithms. Historically, discourses dating back to the very earliest days of stereophonic and multichannel audio have often privileged a “sweet spot” for an immobile but attentive listener (Grajeda, 2015). However, I argue that immersion emerges not from being in an idealised listener position but through being an active participant.

Immersive experiences are not limited to sound, and within fields including heritage studies, gaming and theatre, experiences are often sold as being immersive. Scholarly literature in these domains interrogates the nature of this immersion and brings forth valuable perspectives. In her discussion of immersive heritage experiences, Kidd (2018) detaches immersion from technology and notes that “any and all heritage might potentially be understood as immersive.” For Kidd, key characteristics of immersive experiences include being “story-led, audience and participation centered, multimodal, multisensory and attuned to its environment.” Discussing immersion in video games, Collins (2013, p. 141) argues that rather than viewing the game as a separate space that players enter and are immersed in - as when one enters a concert hall - immersion emerges from interaction with the game. Van Elferen’s (2016) ALI model for analysing immersion in game music reveals how musical affect, literacy and interaction all play roles. As Bucher (2017) writes, immersion is “less about telling the viewer a story and more about letting the viewer discover the story.”

Through exploring varying ideas of immersion we problematise this oft-used phrase and propose a model for immersion that considers interaction, affect and participation.

References

Bucher, J. 2017. Storytelling for Virtual Reality: Methods and Principles. New York and Oxon: Routledge.
Collins, K., 2013. Playing with sound: a theory of interacting with sound and music in video games. MIT press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2013. Flow: The psychology of happiness. Random House.
Grajeda, T. 2015. “The “Sweet Spot”: The Technology of Stereo and the Field of Auditorship” in Théberge, P., Devine, K., and Everrett, T (eds.) Living Stereo : Histories and Cultures of Multichannel Sound. Bloomsbury Academic.
Kidd, J., 2018.” 'Immersive' heritage encounters”. The Museum Review, 3(1).
Small, C. 1998. Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening. Wesleyan University
Press.
Van Elferen, I. 2016 "Analyzing game musical immersion: the ALI model." in Kamp, M., Summers, T., and Sweeney, M. (eds.) Ludomusicology: approaches to video game music. Equinox.

Keywordsimmersive audio, XR, immersive technologies
Year2023
Accepted author manuscript
License
File Access Level
Open
Publication dates
Print11 Sep 2023
Publication process dates
Deposited12 Mar 2024
Permalink -

https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/96594

Download files


Accepted author manuscript
eXtending Reality_ Rethinking Immersion Slides.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 101
    total views
  • 46
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

7. Eurorack to VCV Rack: Modular Synthesis as Compositional Performance
Rietveld, H. and Randell, J. (2024). 7. Eurorack to VCV Rack: Modular Synthesis as Compositional Performance. in: Kitzmann, A., Teboul, E. J., Engstrom, E. and Thoren, C. (ed.) 7. Modular Synthesis: Patching Machines and People Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). pp. 172-184
Dane Law & Chants - Gurum Triads
Parkinson, A. (2023). Dane Law & Chants - Gurum Triads. London The Trilogy Tapes.
Castle on the Marsh
Parkinson, A. (2023). Castle on the Marsh. London Square Glass.
SDF - Broken Glass EP
Parkinson, A. (2023). SDF - Broken Glass EP. Isle of Eigg Lost Map Records.
Rethinking Immersion
Parkinson, A. and Randell, J. (2023). Rethinking Immersion. Innovation in Music Conference 2023. Edinburgh Napier University 30 Jun - 02 Jul 2023
Dane Law - Blue Forty-Six
Parkinson, A. (2022). Dane Law - Blue Forty-Six. London Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records.
SDF - Rhythm Of The Rubicon
Parkinson, A., Marchant, O. and Whalley, L. (2022). SDF - Rhythm Of The Rubicon. Lost Map Records.
Dane Law live at Boundaries Festival
Parkinson, A. (2022). Dane Law live at Boundaries Festival. The Firestation, Sunderland, SR1 3HA 17 - 18 Jun 2022
Dane Law - Summer's End (Lift Me Up)
Parkinson, A. (2022). Dane Law - Summer's End (Lift Me Up). Los Angeles, California Astral Plane Recordings.
Dane Law live at Iklectik
Parkinson, A. (2022). Dane Law live at Iklectik.
Flexible control of acoustic conditions in a music rehearsal space using airbeds
Shearer, D, Dance, S, Gomez-Agustina, L and Randell, J (2021). Flexible control of acoustic conditions in a music rehearsal space using airbeds. Applied Acoustics. 173, pp. 107708-107708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2020.107708
Dane Law - Terrapins
Parkinson, A. (2020). Dane Law - Terrapins.
Algorithmic Music for Synthesised Strings
Parkinson, A. (2020). Algorithmic Music for Synthesised Strings. Los Angeles, California Astral Plane Recordings.
Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How Computation Changes the Mode-of-Being of Musical Instruments
Parkinson, A., Tahirglu, K., Magnusson, T., Garrelfs, I. and Tanaka, A. (2020). Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How Computation Changes the Mode-of-Being of Musical Instruments. Organised Sound. 25 (1), pp. 64-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771819000475
Unfinished business: a conversation on sound art in the united kingdom
Parkinson, A, Toop, D and Tanaka, A (2020). Unfinished business: a conversation on sound art in the united kingdom. in: Weibel, P (ed.) Sound Art: Sound as a Medium of Art MIT Press.
The problems with participation
Parkinson, A and Tanaka, A (2018). The problems with participation. in: Emmerson, S (ed.) The Routledge research companion to electronic music : reaching out with technology Oxon Routledge.
Towards a Novel Acoustic Absorber Using a Magnetically Induced Geometric Nonlinearity in an Elastic Membrane
Shearer, DJ, Dance, S, Gomez-Agustina, L and Randell, J (2018). Towards a Novel Acoustic Absorber Using a Magnetically Induced Geometric Nonlinearity in an Elastic Membrane. Euronoise 2018, the 11th European Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. Crete, Greece 27 - 31 May 2018 EAA-HELINA.
Audio-haptic interfaces for digital audio workstations
Metatla, O., Martin, F., Parkinson, A., Bryan-Kinns, N., Stockman, T. and Tanaka, A. (2016). Audio-haptic interfaces for digital audio workstations. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces. 10 (3), pp. 247-258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12193-016-0217-8
Haptic Wave
Tanaka, A. and Parkinson, A. (2016). Haptic Wave. CHI'16: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858304