Backyard Sounds: An Immersive Sound Experience in Almenara-Vale do Jequitinhonha, Brazil

1. Introduction

The installation made from this artefact is part of the research project “Backyard Sounds: A path to sound immersion”, of the PhD studies in Media Digital Art - Universidade Aberta of Portugal. Using the artefact and theoretical concepts, we attempt: to create an interaction between the sound space and the user; to stimulate auditory awareness through soundscapes.

“Backyard Sounds” is an immersive sound installation, whose theme is sounds activated by human interaction. The artefact is produced from an Arduino Uno Rev3.; a protoboard; four infrared approach sensors and programming in Processing. The installation aims to reflect on sounds in the contemporary epoque, with the intention of leading the audience to experience being alone in a dark room whilst viewing a video and interacting with the sounds, which are only performed with the viewer's participation. The present sounds are reflections of soundscapes from nature and sounds produced by the humans; they seek to bring calm and chaos to the audience; the extreme paradoxes of contemporary life.

The author Gonçalves (2013) states that with the evolution of technologies, there was also the need to capture and reproduce sound environments and scenes, containing sound sources in different positions, giving rise to the concept of virtual reality and systems capable of creating artificial spaces with in order to immerse one or more spectators, taking advantage of their sensory abilities.

In the first version of the artifact, it was sought from the sounds to reflect on the soundscapes bringing sounds of nature and sounds produced by the human being. Currently, it seeks to present sounds from the Jequitinhonha Valley. In order to promote cultural interaction through technology. It is intended to bring to the enjoyer, the extreme paradoxes of contemporary life, such as calm and chaos.

The sound environment is linked to the individual (as a listener) and their auditory space. We constantly engage in a complex sound exchange with our environment, transforming, selecting and altering sounds. In a context in which the impact of sound effects is increasingly aggressive, it is important to sensitize the individual seeking to understand their relationship with sounds, thus increasing their hearing awareness.

The research described here consists of a study on the immersive sound installation “Backyard Sounds”, approaching the artistic process involved in its creation and the concepts, notions and reflections related to the computational artifact.

Another metaphor used is “the heart”, which with its sound permeates the entire soundtrack. The current version of the installation introduces sounds captured in the city of Almenara in Brazil. These sounds represent characteristic sounds of the municipality and popular songs that represent the city and a little bit of the Vale do Jequitinhonha.

Throughout the chapter the concepts of Art and Technology are considered, namely: Sound art (s); Soundscapes; Sound installation; immersion, and final considerations are made.