Sound Effects Research Articles

Knowing sonic impressionism: the design of theatre sound effects

ABSTRACT What historical theatre practitioners knew about sound and its affective potential has not been examined in the context of a long history of creative soundmaking. As I argue here, our present-day practices in sound design do not necessarily originate with the introduction of sound recording technology in the twentieth century but can be traced back further to theatrical approaches. To deepen our understanding of sound effects practice, I draw together a variety of sources from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and place them within the framework of Cross’ designerly ways of knowing (2006, 29) with the aim of exploring the knowledge at the heart of practitioners’ soundmaking. Historical practitioners faced the challenges of working with acoustic materials and mechanisms to design sound in much the same way as present-day sound designers; by considering the material of sound itself not just as a way to provoke recognition in the listener, but also emotion and mood. My approach evidences that theatre practitioners were concerned with aspects such as sync or spatialisation that we would usually trace back to the evolution of film soundtrack techniques and had a deep understanding of sound as effect.

Determination of the sound level during different management measures in piglet rearing related to animal welfare and human health and safety

In the present study, sound level measurements were taken during management measures with expected high noise exposure on three German pig farms in order to quantify the noise level for pigs and farm staff. The sound level was measured during different activities, such as teeth grinding and tail docking of piglets, vaccination, castration with anaesthesia, stabling and rehousing the pigs. The equivalent continuous sound level (LAeq) was measured as well as the actual sound level (LAF) and the peak sound pressure level (LCPKmax). The latter two were assigned to specific sound events during the individual measures, such as piglet screams or using the pig paddle. Rehousing the pigs at the end of the nursery period resulted in the highest continuous sound levels (LAeq= 83.3 ± 4.9 dB(A)), followed by anaesthesia before castration (LAeq = 78.1 ± 7.4 dB(A)) and teeth grinding and tail docking of piglets (LAeq = 77.5 ± 3.6 dB(A)). The peak sound pressure level LCPKmax was more than 100 dB(A) for all measures with an absolute maximum of 129.7 dB(A) when pigs were being moved out of the nursery compartment. Furthermore, the human pain threshold of 120 dB(A) was exceeded in isolated cases when nursery pigs were being moved to the stable (LCPKmax = 121 dB(A)) and during anaesthesia before castration (LCPKmax = 125.2 dB(A)). During the individual measures, particularly high sound levels were generated when using a pig paddle (LAF = 92.1 ± 7.8 dBA)), when pigs ran over a loading ramp of a transporter (LAF = 93.8 ± 1.4 dB(A)) or when piglets screamed (LAF = 87.9 ± 7.5 dB(A)). The piglets’ screams were particularly loud during anaesthesia before castration (LAF = 90.0 ± 9.2 dB(A)), during vaccination (LAF = 89.6 ± 6.5 dB(A)) and during teeth grinding and tail docking (LAF = 89.5 ± 5.9 dB(A)).Even if the LAeq was always below 85 dB(A), i. e. the limit specified in European legislation (EU Directive 2008/120/EC) for continuous noise in piggeries, there were brief sound peaks that exceeded the pain threshold of 120 dB(A). In the interest of animal welfare and human health, noise should be reduced by a gentle handling of pigs. The use of the pig paddle should be restricted whenever possible. Additionally, farm staff should wear hearing protection when carrying out those measures that were identified as particularly noise-intensive in this study.

Open set classification of sound event

Sound is one of the primary forms of sensory information that we use to perceive our surroundings. Usually, a sound event is a sequence of an audio clip obtained from an action. The action can be rhythm patterns, music genre, people speaking for a few seconds, etc. The sound event classification address distinguishes what kind of audio clip it is from the given audio sequence. Nowadays, it is a common issue to solve in the following pipeline: audio pre-processing→perceptual feature extraction→classification algorithm. In this paper, we improve the traditional sound event classification algorithm to identify unknown sound events by using the deep learning method. The compact cluster structure in the feature space for known classes helps recognize unknown classes by allowing large room to locate unknown samples in the embedded feature space. Based on this concept, we applied center loss and supervised contrastive loss to optimize the model. The center loss tries to minimize the intra- class distance by pulling the embedded feature into the cluster center, while the contrastive loss disperses the inter-class features from one another. In addition, we explored the performance of self-supervised learning in detecting unknown sound events. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed open-set sound event classification algorithm and self-supervised learning approach achieve sustained performance improvements in various datasets.

Exploring the Impact of Ambient and Character Sounds on Player Experience in Video Games

Elaborate sound design, including background music, ambient sounds (sounds describing the game world), and character sounds (sounds generated by the character’s actions), plays a pivotal role in modern video games. However, the influence of these different types of sound on the player’s experience has not been extensively researched. This study examines the influence of these sound types on immersion, avatar identification, fun, and perceived competence. In two experiments, participants played League of Legends under four different sound conditions. The first experiment (N1 = 32) revealed a non-significant trend in the effect of character sounds on avatar identification. Ambient sounds, however, were limited because the task restricted participants’ movement across the game map. Consequently, we adapted the task to allow for a wider variety of ambient sounds in the second experiment (N2 = 32). Here, a significant impact of character sounds on immersion, avatar identification, and fun was observed, as well as an interaction effect of character sounds and ambient sounds on fun. Furthermore, we observed a trend, though not statistically significant, suggesting that ambient sounds may influence the player’s sense of flow. These findings underline the distinct effects of different sound types, and we discuss implications for the design of sound in video games.

Fractal acoustic metamaterials with near-zero index and negative properties

A subwavelength two-dimensional fractal acoustic metamaterial was designed based on the Hilbert fractal curve and spatial curl concept. The equivalent acoustic parameters of the fractal acoustic metamaterial were extracted by the equivalent parameter method, and the acoustic metamaterial exhibited near-zero density and negative density properties at specific frequency points. The analysis based on the finite element method shows that the acoustic prism constructed by using the near-zero density property of this acoustic metamaterial can realize the single-channel acoustic unidirectional transmission and multichannel acoustic unidirectional transmission effect, the bidirectional acoustic conduction and multidirectional acoustic conduction effect, and the bidirectional sound insulation effect. We also investigated the effect of embedding rigid scatterers inside the prism on the acoustic one-way transmission performance. Based on the acoustic direction selection mechanism of the near-zero refractive index acoustic metamaterial, arbitrary modulation of the plane acoustic wave emission direction can be achieved by changing the angle of the acoustic prism emission interface. In addition, the negative density property of the acoustic metamaterial is used to design an acoustic triangular prism to realize the acoustic negative refraction phenomenon. next, we discuss the trend of the influence of the geometrical parameters of the metamaterial on its effective properties, where the modulating wave frequency gradually moves to lower frequencies as the geometrical parameters of the metamaterial structural units increase. Finally, we fabricated the corresponding experimental samples of acoustic prisms using 3d printing technology and conducted experimental tests. The results show that the measured acoustic pressure field distribution matches well with the analytical results of the finite element method, which proves the accuracy of the results and the reasonableness of the structure, indicating that acoustic prisms composed of this acoustic super-material are expected to be used in ultrasonic imaging, acoustic energy rectification and other fields.

The sound of yawns makes geladas yawn

Yawning is undeniably contagious and hard to resist. Interestingly, in our species, even the mere sound of a yawn can trigger this contagious response, especially when the yawner is someone familiar. Together with humans, one other mammal species is known to produce loud and distinct vocalisations while yawning, Theropithecus gelada. Geladas are known for their complex social interactions and rich vocal communication, making them intriguing subjects for studying yawning behaviour. To explore the contagious effect of yawn sounds on geladas, we conducted playback experiments in a zoo-housed colony with animals living in two groups. We exposed them to yawn sounds (Test) or affiliative grunts (Control) produced by males from either their own group or the other one. The results were remarkable, as simply hearing yawn sounds led to yawn contagion in geladas, with multiple responses observed when the yawns came from members of their own group. This finding adds a significant contribution to the research on mimicry and behavioural contagion in primates. Moreover, it raises intriguing questions about the involvement of sensory modalities beyond visual perception in these phenomena.

Polyphonic sound event localization and detection based on Multiple Attention Fusion ResNet.

Sound event localization and detection have been applied in various fields. Due to the polyphony and noise interference, it becomes challenging to accurately predict the sound event and their occurrence locations. Aiming at this problem, we propose a Multiple Attention Fusion ResNet, which uses ResNet34 as the base network. Given the situation that the sound duration is not fixed, and there are multiple polyphonic and noise, we introduce the Gated Channel Transform to enhance the residual basic block. This enables the model to capture contextual information, evaluate channel weights, and reduce the interference caused by polyphony and noise. Furthermore, Split Attention is introduced to the model for capturing cross-channel information, which enhances the ability to distinguish the polyphony. Finally, Coordinate Attention is introduced to the model so that the model can focus on both the channel information and spatial location information of sound events. Experiments were conducted on two different datasets, TAU-NIGENS Spatial Sound Events 2020, and TAU-NIGENS Spatial Sound Events 2021. The results demonstrate that the proposed model significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods under multiple polyphonic and noise-directional interference environments and it achieves competitive performance under a single polyphonic environment.

A Functional Study of Film Sound Design in Science Fiction Films

As a form of art combining audio and visual, movie sound effect is an important element in building the story world of the movie. When sound films first appeared, they were recognized and welcomed by the public, and it is extremely important to use sound effects in narrative films so that the audience can have a better connection with the fictional world. As one of the popular cinema genres, science fiction movies were loved by the audience when they first appeared, attracting the audience's attention with brilliant special effects, but the role played by sound effects in them should not be neglected. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of sound effects in science fiction films, and will use Avatar, Inception, The Prestige and Gravity, the four films, respectively, to explain the three functions that sound effects have. They are to enhance the realism of the movie, to help complete the temporal construction of the movie and to express the inner world of the characters.

Nonwoven fabric sheet with back air space serving as Helmholtz resonator

The sound absorption effect of a Helmholtz resonator was induced by creating an aperture in a nonwoven fabric sheet with a back air space, thus obtaining a sufficient sound absorption effect in a broad frequency range. In this study, transfer matrices were used to obtain the sound absorption coefficient. Transfer matrices were used to represent the following mathematically: a nonwoven fabric model based on the simplified limp-frame model, an acoustic element that considers the vibration of the nonwoven fabric sheet, the air space behind the nonwoven fabric sheet, and the aperture of the nonwoven fabric sheet. Equivalent circuits combining these transfer matrices were used to obtain sound absorption coefficient. The Helmholtz resonator sound absorption effect was more pronounced for the nonwoven fabric sheets with greater ventilation resistance. The results showed consistency between the experimental and theoretical trends. As for the sound absorption coefficient derived using the theoretical models for nonwoven fabric sheets, the results of the simplified limp-frame model were the closest to the experimental values. As the length of the back air space increased, the peak sound absorption value shifted toward low frequencies due to the sound absorption principles of both the nonwoven fabric sheet with a back air space and the Helmholtz resonator.

Effectiveness of different sounds in human echolocation in live tests.

Echolocation is a vital method of spatial orientation for many visually impaired individuals who are willing to and able to learn it. Blind echolocators use a variety of sounds, such as mouth clicks, cane taps, or specialized sound-emitting devices, to perceive their surroundings. In our study, we examined the effectiveness of several different sounds used in echolocation by conducting trials with 12 blind and 14 sighted volunteers. None of the participants had received formal training in echolocation, though a number identified as self-taught experts. The sounds tested included those played from a loudspeaker, generated by a mechanical clicker, or made by the participants themselves. The task given to the participants was to identify the direction and distance to an obstacle measuring 1x2 meters in an outdoor environment, with the obstacle placed in one of nine possible positions. Our findings indicated that the blind participants displayed significantly better echolocation skills when compared to the sighted participants. The results of the blind participants were also strongly divided into two distinct subgroups-totally blind participants performed much better than those which were legally blind, but had some residual vision. In terms of sound comparisons, we found that sounds with a center frequency near 3-4kHz and a wide spectrum provided higher accuracy rates than those with lower frequency peaks. Sighted participants performed best with 3kHz and 4kHz percussion sounds, while the blind group performed best with blue and pink noise. The loudspeaker generated tones generally yielded better results than those generated by the participant (using a mechanical clicker, mouth clicks or hand claps). These results may be useful in developing training programs that teach echolocation as well as artificial sounds to improve echolocation effectiveness.

Analysis and interpretation of joint source separation and sound event detection in domestic environments.

In recent years, the relation between Sound Event Detection (SED) and Source Separation (SSep) has received a growing interest, in particular, with the aim to enhance the performance of SED by leveraging the synergies between both tasks. In this paper, we present a detailed description of JSS (Joint Source Separation and Sound Event Detection), our joint-training scheme for SSep and SED, and we measure its performance in the DCASE Challenge for SED in domestic environments. Our experiments demonstrate that JSS can improve SED performance, in terms of Polyphonic Sound Detection Score (PSDS), even without additional training data. Additionally, we conduct a thorough analysis of JSS's effectiveness across different event classes and in scenarios with severe event overlap, where it is expected to yield further improvements. Furthermore, we introduce an objective measure to assess the diversity of event predictions across the estimated sources, shedding light on how different training strategies impact the separation of sound events. Finally, we provide graphical examples of the Source Separation and Sound Event Detection steps, aiming to facilitate the interpretation of the JSS methods.

Developing the Console Dash: a 2D Adventure Game using Godot Game Engine

A 2D platformer game, console dash is a game that tells the story of Dax, a curious game character, jumping out of his console to go on an adventure. He goes through difficult levels, collects objects and meets new friends. They form a team and fight a villain named Glitch. The aim of this research is to design a 2D Console Dash platformer game with an adventure genre that is interesting and also quite difficult to complete. This application was created using the Godot game engine with the GDScript programming language. The method used in this final assignment uses the MDLC model software development method, and uses the SWOT method for system weakness analysis. The final result of this project is a 2D platformer game that plays smoothly and provides an enjoyable gaming experience. Console Dash offers attractive graphics, music and sound effects that liven up the atmosphere of the game, as well as challenging levels to explore. Moreover, this game has an intuitive interface and responsive controls.

The theatricality and cinematography of Alessandro Baricco's literary works

The subject of the study is stylistic and genre techniques that go beyond literary traditions. The object of the research is the early works of Alessandro Baricco, the novels "Silk" and "Sea-Ocean", the scenario - monologue "1900: the legend of the pianist", the novel – scenario "Smith & Wesson" ("Smith & Wesson"), the novel "City". The research is going to show individual features and artistic techniques that allow achieving the greatest imagery, to identify innovative features of Alessandro Baricco's poetics. Baricco's literary narrative is completed by elements imitating acoustic and visual effects, which allows the reader to build suggestive images in mind, intense with visual and sound effects. This article research two types of works by Alessandro Baricco: those that were originally written not only for reading, but also for staging in the theater; and those where elements of theatricality and cinematography are implicitly inscribed in the text. The scientific novelty of the work is due to show various aspects related to the individuality of the author's thinking. The works of Alessandro Baricco are characterized by syncretism. The writer weaves elements from the theater and cinema into the narrative canvas, which makes his prose highly suggestive. It is also possible to talk about two author's strategies: a detailed description of the visual and sound accompaniment of the action, or half-hints aimed at the gradual recognition of interwoven theatrical and cinematic techniques, hints that help the reader understand what is happening. The results of the study can serve to expand interest to the work of Alessandro Baricco and further research his literature works as a whole with the diverse activities of Baricco in the world of culture.

Film Music and the Director’s Aesthetics: Concerning the Methodology of Film Text Analysis

The article raises the question of the necessity of applying special and individualized approaches in analyzing the music of author’s cinematography. The traditionally basic trend of research of cinema music centers around functionally semantic analysis of cinematic works. However, in the movies of author-directors, music is frequently included in the polysemantic artistic space of a cinematic text in the broad sense of this concept as the assemblage of the text (the storyline narrative), the context, the subtext, the intertext, and the metatext of the cinema product. As a rule, analysis of the music of the author’s film is inseparable from the visual images and peculiarities of the other elements of the phonogram (speech, noises, sound effects, silence). In this context, the following concepts require demarcation: “film music,” “music of the film” and “the audiovisual solution of film.” The suggested approach, based on the principles of film director’s aesthetics, is expounded on the example of analysis of Robert Bresson’s film Une femme douce (A Gentle Woman). The movie is of special interest due to the fact that in it Bresson’s general ideas regarding the use of sound, including music, in film, are manifested to the fullest degree, including declarative utterances from the screen. In the case of Bresson, the principles of phenomenological aesthetics manifested in the director’s works, especially those from his mature periods, are of foundational significance. However, the general approaches towards analysis of music in author’s cinematography suggested in the present article may be extrapolated and applied in the research of the works of film directors who created cinema works on the basis of other and most diverse aesthetic principles.

Eclecticism and Unity in Diversity – Analysing the integration and application of modern technology in theatre arts

In today's rapid development of science and technology, almost every aspect of our life has a very close relationship with modern technology, especially in the creation of art is more and more inseparable from the aid of modern technology. As a large branch of artistic creation, stage art design is a comprehensive art, involving scene design, lighting, sound effects, costumes, make-up, props, special effects and many other aspects of its more inclusive. This paper starts from the use of modern science and technology in stage art design, and analyses how stage art design can be unified under the diverse and pluralistic forms of expression.

The Nature Of Modern Technologies Used In Arabic Television Programs Broadcasted In 2023

The Arabic television programs strive to keep pace with global development by employing cutting-edge technologies in television production to reach a high level of quality that matches international standards and attracts a larger audience. This study aimed to understand the nature of modern technologies used in television programs aired during the Ramadan season from 22-03 to 30-04 of Ramadan in the year 2023. This study is classified as descriptive-analytical research, which relied on the content analysis tool, where it was applied to five programs. The researcher employed a comprehensive inclusive approach, which involves collecting data and information from all elements of the study sample using suitable methods, and hence the study sample is comprehensive for its community. The researcher also relied on the interview tool with a sample of satellite channel technicians in Jordan to enrich the study. The study found that the majority of the television programs study sample used various TV technologies, such as sound effects, visual effects, virtual studios, graphics, as well as modern cameras with HD and 4K technology. The study demonstrated a blend of media formats presented in the programs, ranging from live discussions in the studio to internal, external, and field-based dialogue sessions. Additionally, it highlighted the professional editing work employed in these programs.

Effects of White Noise Sound on the Severity of Muscle Vaccination Pain in Children Under Two Years.

Pain and its control is a significant health problem worldwide. The present study aimed to determine the effects of white noise (bird sound) on the severity of muscle vaccination pain in children under two years old. This study was a case-control study conducted in 2021. The samples included seventy children under two years old referred to the health centers in Ramsar City, Iran. The samples were selected using the convenient sampling method and divided into experimental and control groups. The data were collected using the demographic characteristics questionnaire, facial expression, and pain assessment in pediatric patients (FLACC). They were then analyzed by SPSS16 using an independent t-test and analysis of covariance (P<0.05). A significant difference was observed between the severity of muscle vaccination pain in children in the two groups (p=0.042); the pain intensity mean in the experimental group (6.45±2.01) was lower than the control group (8.94±1.28). This method can be a harmless and inexpensive intervention to reduce pain intensity and behavioral pain responses in infants during painful procedures, especially vaccination.

Effects of virtual reality and nature sounds on pain and anxiety during hysterosalpingography: a randomized controlled trial.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of listening to nature sounds alone and virtual reality plus listening to nature sounds on pain and anxiety in hysterosalpingography. This three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial included 135 (45 in each group) women who underwent hysterosalpingography in Turkey. The virtual reality+nature sounds group viewed a nature video with virtual reality glasses and listened to nature sounds during hysterosalpingography, whereas the nature sounds group only listened to nature sounds. The control group received only routine care. During hysterosalpingography, women in virtual reality+nature sounds group experienced less pain than those in control group (p=0.009). After hysterosalpingography, pain levels were lower in both virtual reality+nature sounds group and nature sounds group than in control group (p=0.000 and p=0.000, respectively), anxiety levels were lower in virtual reality+nature sounds group than in nature sounds group and control group (p=0.018 and p=0.000, respectively), and anxiety levels were lower in nature sounds group than in control group (p=0.013). Virtual reality with nature content plus listening to nature sounds and only listening to nature sounds are effective in reducing pain and anxiety related to hysterosalpingography procedures in women. Compared with only listening to nature sounds, virtual reality plus listening to nature sounds further reduced hysterosalpingography-related pain and anxiety.

Interpolation of scheduled simulation results for real-time auralization of moving sources

A central part of auralization is the consideration of realistic sound propagation effects. This can be achieved using computationally efficient physics-based simulations based on the principle geometrical acoustics. When considering complex effects, e.g. curved propagation due to atmospheric refraction, those simulations can be computationally demanding. This can become the bottleneck for real-time auralizations, as the run-time exceeds the duration of one audio block even for large block sizes. A solution is to schedule the simulations into a separate thread. However, this leads to an irregular update rate which is lower than the rate of the audio blocks. Consequently, the output signal can contain audible artifacts. This especially holds when considering the Doppler effect for dynamic scenarios with fast moving sources, like aircraft. This paper introduces a method for interpolating, and thereby upsampling, the results of scheduled simulations in an auralization context in order to avoid such artifacts. The method is applied to an aircraft flyover auralization considering curved sound propagation in an inhomogeneous, moving atmosphere. Using this method, it is possible to auralize such scenarios in real time.

Evaluation of flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in urban area, Hamadan in Iran.

Noise pollution is one of the consequences of urbanization that can cause environmental disturbances in urban areas. Urban ecosystems provide noise reduction services through Urban Green infrastructures (UGIs). Many studies have been conducted to evaluate and model traffic noise, but none have addressed the flow, supply, and demand of noise reduction ecosystem services. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for estimating flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in Hamadan city that has not been mentioned in any paper so far. UGIs were classified into six main categories: agricultural lands, gardens, parks, abandoned lands, single trees, and street trees. A total of 57 sampling stations for sound measurement were made in August 2018. The current map of noise pollution (flow) was created using the Kriging method. The amount of supply was measured up to a distance of 50 meters from the main roads based on two approaches (the distance effect and the sound barrier effect). To quantify the demand, the current sound intensity level in the noise-sensitive land uses was compared with standards. Zonal statistics was used for spatial analysis of supply-demand in the urban neighborhood as a working unit. Results showed that at distances of 5m, 10m, 15m, and 20m, the average noise reduction was found to be 1.61, 2.83, 3.92, and 5.33 dB, respectively. Sound barriers at distances of 5m and 10m resulted in an average sound reduction of 1.61 and 2.83 dB, respectively. Individual trees, strip trees, abandoned lands, parks, and gardens led to a decrease in traffic noise by 0.3, 1, 0.1, 3.5, and 4.5 dB, respectively. The clustering analysis revealed a significant spatial clustering of noise pollution in Hamedan. The results and new methodology of this research can be used in similar areas to estimate the supply and demand of noise reduction and also for decision-makers to take management actions to increase supply and meet the demand for noise reduction service.