HEARING LEVEL IN DECIBELS (dB)

 Strength

Weakness

FREQUENCY IN CYCLES PER SECOND (Hz)

Sharpness

Booming

Big

Small

Keen-edged

Obtuse

The System


I built a visual system, with adjectives we use to describe hearing. Strength and weakness in sound can expressed visually in size: big and small.  Sharpness and booming can be expressed visually as keen-edged, obtuse or unpointed. The transfer of sound qualities to visual qualities is also based on the concept of synaesthesia: a crossing of the boundaries between eye and ear, between looking and hearing.

 

 

About Sound

 

Each sound has a different hearing level (dB) and frequency (HZ).  Hearing level is the sound pressure level which can represent the strength and weakness of the sound quality. Audible frequency is characterized as a periodic vibration whose frequency is audible to the average human. Sharpness is a measure of the high-frequency cosynaesthesiantent of a sound, and the booming is a measure of the low-frequency content of a sound.

 

 

 

 

LOOK/HEAR

Sound + Shapes

I created a 15 by 15 two-dimensional square grid and drew letters on the grid to create one single letter. I used 3D software to draw letters into a 3D space, repeating the letter on to 9 layers for the 9 sound channels. Different sounds will affect different layers of a letter.