Outcome

Concept

Home is a place of memories. There are many forms of memories that we can find in everyone’s home. In general, they can be grouped into physical and digital assets. Studies have shown that people tend to view physical objects as more valuable than digital archives even though they are equally powerful in terms of their reminiscing functions. This is partly due to the perceived "ephemeral" nature of digital memories. Most physical mementos are freely accessible, being on display or integrated into everyday life for a long time. Digital collections in contrast are invisible and require a deliberate and major effort to access. And it's very easy to delete or lost them by accident.

Inspired from my research about digital and physical mementos at home, I want to create a critical engineering object that opens questions to the perceived value of digital audio memories.

Everaudio is a device that allows users to relive audio memories through various ways. When Everaudio is turned on, it will start to play the stored audio files in an inaudible frequency, that is, below 20Hz or above 20000Hz. Users will recognize the audio's ever presence by the LED indicator located on Everaudio's surface. Alternatively, users can hold Everaudio and feel the vibration of the speaker via tactile engagement with the flexible fabric. Everaudio can also be switched from silent mode to audible mode (play at files' original frequency) via a stroking gesture over its surface, allowing users to relive audio memories in a more direct way.

The design process of Everaudio is essentially my exploration of new types of relationships between users and their digital memories at home. I tried to provide my responses to the following questions:

-How can we increase the perceived value of digital memories?
      By providing ambient and continuous presence of audio memories.
-What are the new ways to enhance the reliving experience of audio memories?
      Designing for multi-sensory (visual, auditory and tactile) engagement.
-How can we design mementos and their interactions to be suitable for a home setting?
      Considering soft materiality and natural gestural interactions.

Prototype

DEMO VIDEO

HARDWARE

The hardware setup is shown below:

SOFTWARE

The Arduino code for connecting the DFplayer Mini, the speaker, the force sensing resistor, and the LEDs is as below:

Precedents

The creation of Everaudio is inspired by several projects that explore different ways of representing and experiencing audio memories.

1. SOUNDSCAPE

This project selects a representative song for each region in Manhattan, and laser cut the songs as soundwaves on acrylic materials. The physicalized songs are mapped back onto Manhattan map to create a soundscape. In comparison to other projects, the sound here is presented as a physical static form. And also the sound cannot be relived. When various sounds are presented together as a physical sculpture, its complex 3D form gives the viewer a visual and perhaps tangible impression of the subject/context of the sound.

2. SOUNDLAZER

This project uses ultrasonic transreducers and speakers to create an audio player that can only be heard from a certain direction and distance. What I liked about it is the fact that the sound is always present in the environment, just like photos on the wall are always there. One thing that surfaced from the research is that the visual presence and the everyday encounter of physical mementos is one of the reasons people feel physical mementos are perceived initially as more valuable. But in fact, digital mementos are equally valuable as people start to think about all the memories embedded in the digital mementos.

3. SOLID VIBRATION

This project is similar to the first project in its approach to physicalize audio memories. But what is interesting about it is that there is the possibility to relive the audio using a modified phonograph. If audio memory is carved into everyday objects which people use all the time, these memories will be wear off along with the object just like yellowed old photos. As people relive the audio, it will have noises and distorted voices. Would this phenomena increase the perceived value of the audio (digital) mementos?

4. SURFACE MATTERS

This project explores flexible material surfaces as two-dimensional planes, and how they can integrate into a product or environment. Customizable in both material and color, the device is mainly controlled through the textiles, involving gentle gestural and physical interactions.

Process

MILSTONE 1

The initial idea I had was an all-in-one audio memory printer that allows user to integrate sound-waves into wallpaper pattern design, and scan the wallpaper to relive the embedded audio memories. Then I thought that this idea involves an additional transformation step between the visible sound-waves and the invisible audio. I want to think further, trying to find ways that allow users to directly experience audio in its original digital format. 

MILSTONE 2

I came up with the current concept and made the first prototype, which involves two force sensing resistors: one is for switching on and off of the system, and the other one is for flip back and forth between the inaudible version and audible version of the audio assets. Later on, I decided to simplify the system by deleting the switch function. This way the accessibility of the device is increased, and the idea of the "ever presence of audio memories in the environment" is enhanced. 

MILSTONE 3

I tested various covering and filling materials for the form, which includes felt, foam sheet, plastic sheet, cotton fabric, sponge, etc. 

Open Questions and Challenges

After the review, I was suggested to the following future directions:

1. The form of the device can be further explored and designed. Right now it might be still too discrete for home setting.

2. The hearing range for different age groups are different. It might be interesting to explore the possibilities of receiving different audio memories for different audiences at home (child, adult, elderly, or even pets!)

Reflection

Critical engineering is a way of thinking that I've never practiced before. I as a designer am used to come up with solutions for problems, but rarely experienced using design as an investigation process and using the end product as a way to raise or address questions. I really enjoyed it.

I also learned to not to over complicate design. For this project I went straight into hardware and coding first without thinking clearly about what was my end goal. Although sometimes good ideas emerge from the making process, but I think for the next project I should start with refining the conceptual design and making quick and dirty prototype, then go deeper with refining the prototypes.

Attribution and References

The mentioned study can be found here: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/2907/1/PUC-journal-digitalVSphysical.pdf