Product

We created a media installation which consisted of two chairs that face each other, in which two participants would sit and make eye contact with each other. Using two webcams, Open CV, and blink detection software, the installation would play a shepard tone each time either person blinked. A shepard tone is an auditory illusion which sounds like the pitch is increasing forever, but simultaneously never seems to get any higher. The shepard tones were created with a sequence of notes in which many keys were played at the same time, in a cyclic pattern. The people would maintain eye contact and each time one of them blinked, it seemed like there was an escalation because of the sound that was played, however there was no real escalation because it was just an auditory illusion. An illustration of the development of the shepard tones follows. The installation took place inside a makeshift “booth” which had two whiteboards surrounding in order to create a more personal, intimate space free of distractions. It also provided a reliable place to mount the webcams. The sounds were played through both headphones and speakers in order to provide a very focused environment for the participants and allow the audience to experience what is going on as well. Link to source code: https://github.com/moorejs/eye-contact-opencv