Soundscapes in Our Hands

MSc Thesis:

Designing an Interactive Tool for Non-Experts to Shape a Virtual Grocery Store Soundscape

  • Project
    I wrote my thesis as part of a larger research project at KTH on how soundscapes are experienced in retail environments, by both staff and customers. In this context, communication between designers and the people who inhabit these soundscapes is often challenging.

  • I therefore wanted to explore how interaction could be used as a means of communication to help bridge this gap.

  • Tool design

  • A virtual grocery store environment built in Unity, with audio handled in FMOD.

  • Users shape the soundscape using an external MIDI controller, and move through the environment using mouse and keyboard.

  • Design process

  • - Fieldwork, including soundwalks in grocery stores, to study the soundscape in context

  • - Ambisonic field recordings and editing in Reaper

  • - Conducted a co-design workshop

  • - Designed the different store sounds and mapped them to the controller, including low-pass filtering

  • - Conducted a user study, which showed consistently positive experiences, both in terms of usability and as a means of supporting reflection

link to my thesis will be added HERE once the thesis is published on DiVA