CHROMESTHESIA
CHROMESTHESIA
THESIS RESEARCH, PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL
Theme: Well Being
The of this research is to explore the connection between the auditory and visual sensory experience. Taking into consideration a more emotional and humanistic approach when designing spaces.
In the case of hyper connectivity of the senses, listening to specific frequencies can involuntarily evoke an experience of color. A heightened sense of reality known as, Chromesthesia.
So how would this interwoven senses influence the perceptual experience of a space?
EXPERIMENT SET-UP
Scene A Muted
Scene B Low to High Hz
Scene C High to Low Hz
The above box played a total of six sonic and visual scenes, each scene was either set on the red for long wavelengths or purple hue for short. Starting of from mute, the audio wavelengths around 2673 Hz and 41Hz corresponded that of the lights.
21 from the ages of 18 to 24, answered a series of questions about their subjective emotional response to each of the sonic and optic scenes. The collected data was based on rating each scene by either positive or negative emotion.
Cardboard
LED Strip
Wooden frame
Two way mirror
Experiment materials and components
The overall collected showed that the purple lighting scene with the low frequency of 41Hz, indicated the calmness as the most effective emotion. Compared to the overall mute lighting scene as the least effective. Some subjects reported more negative emotions towards the red lighting scene along with both high and low frequencies, describing the scene as claustrophobic and frustrating.
These results inform that the synergy between the sonic and optic experience can push a stronger emotional relation to the spaces humans occupy. So when it comes to designing a space both lighting and the sound quality must be taken into great consideration.
To further apply this into a real space situation, I decided as an example to chose the exit pathway with an escalator at the Essex street subway station. Due to the fact that it is a transitional space leading from the underground subways up to the outside busy street.
This experience can allow an opportunity of a light and acoustical design in pushing further the immersiveness quality of that space. Creating the experience more inwardly for the individuals occupying the space
Recordings of subway tracks for audio. Materials used to build the experiment wood, LED strip, and two way mirrors. Softwares used Ableton live, Arduino, Rhino, and Auto CAD.