Synesthesia | Installation- converting sound to shape and color

synesthesia
1. A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

Installation. May 2005
I had a microphone feed into the computer and audio from the room changed the display. I displayed a circle related to the voice of the room (pitch relates to size, and volume relates to color). As the viewer/participant speaks or sings or yells they see their voice transformed into colorful movements of varying size. The louder the sound- the colors of these forms brightened. In the background I had a sweeping cascade of colored lines. These would take control if there was no noise in the space.
I plan on making the display available online using personal mics from viewers computers to animate it. Ideally I would want multiple users to be able to log on and effect the animation collectively. Each input will generate shapes.

Here is a captured video feed.
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[/kml_flashembed]

One thought on “Synesthesia | Installation- converting sound to shape and color

  1. I think you’re on the right track here. I suspect that the traditional microphone is unable to sense all the aspects of sound, thus the difficulty of computer programs to distinguish words and voices. Have you come up with a program that will convert words into visual “language”? I think this would be a gold mine. It would serve the deaf community and the dictation markets.

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