The Cochlea Unwound: A case study for a listening aid using a sonic crystal

Prior, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8750-445X (2010) The Cochlea Unwound: A case study for a listening aid using a sonic crystal. Performance Research, 15 (3). pp. 95-102. ISSN 13528165

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Abstract / Summary

In September 2008, liminal (architect Frances Crow and myself) were awarded a grant from the Wellcome Trust for the research phase of our project Tranquillity is a State of Mind: Listening Aids for a Listening Impaired Society. Working in partnership with Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, we brought together a research team comprising two acousticians, a computational neuroscientist and a clinical audiologist in order to develop a proposal for a ‘listening aid’: a device that might facilitate contemplation on the act of listening itself. Our proposal, The Cochlea Unwound, is for a permanent acoustic intervention that would be sited between the weir at Diglis Island, Worcester and the footpath that runs alongside it. The Cochlea Unwound utilises the acoustic technology of sonic crystals to sculpt the noise of the weir into a sound composition that unfolds according to both the speed that the visitor passes the structure and their proximity to it. An overview of the Tranquillity is a State of Mind project as a whole is beyond the scope of this paper, but what follows is a commentary on the thinking behind The Cochlea Unwound and an introduction to the acoustic principles on which it is based.

Item Type:	Article
ISSN:	13528165
Subjects:	Arts > Architecture Music > Digital Music Science Arts > Sculpture Music > Sound Art Technology
Courses by Department:	Academy of Music & Theatre Arts > Music
Related URLs:	Author
Depositing User:	David Prior
Date Deposited:	16 Aug 2018 07:59
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2022 16:29
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/2948

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