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Non-Verbal Imitations as a Sketching Tool for Sound Design

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Sound, Music, and Motion (CMMR 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8905))

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Abstract

The article reports initial data supporting the idea of using non-verbal vocal imitations as a sketching and communication tool for sound design. First, a case study observed participants trying to communicate a referent sound to another person. Analysis of the videos of the conversations showed that participants spontaneously used descriptive and imitative vocalizations in more than half of the conversations. Second, an experiment compared recognition accuracy for different types of referent sounds when they were communicated either by a verbalization or a non-verbal vocal imitation. Results showed that recognition was always accurate with vocal imitations, even for sounds that were otherwise very difficult to verbally communicate. Recognition with verbalizations was accurate only for identifiable sounds. Altogether, these data confirm that vocal imitations are an effective communication device for sounds. We finally describe a recently-launched European project whose objective is precisely to use non-verbal imitations as a sketching tool for sound design.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interaction design is the branch of design that focuses on how users interact with products and services [3, 26].

  2. 2.

    The vocabulary specific to sound is rather limited in French [5].

  3. 3.

    www.skatvg.eu.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Karine Aura, Arnaud Dessein, Massimo Grassi, and Daniele Galante for assistance while running the experiments and Nicole Navolio for proofreading the manuscript. This research was instrumental in preparation of the SkAT-VG project (2014–2016), retained for financial support of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission, under FET-Open grant number: 618067.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genesis Acoustics, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Guillaume Lemaitre, Christophe Lambourg & Patrick Boussard

  2. STMS-Ircam-CNRS-UPMC, Paris, France

    Guillaume Lemaitre & Patrick Susini

  3. Università Iuav di Venezia, Venice, Italy

    Guillaume Lemaitre & Davide Rocchesso

Authors
  1. Guillaume Lemaitre
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  2. Patrick Susini
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  3. Davide Rocchesso
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  4. Christophe Lambourg
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  5. Patrick Boussard
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Correspondence to Guillaume Lemaitre .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS - LMA, Marseille, France

    Mitsuko Aramaki

  2. Toulon-Var University and CNRS - LMA, Marseille, France

    Olivier Derrien

  3. CNRS - LMA, Marseille, France

    Richard Kronland-Martinet

  4. CNRS - LMA, Marseille, France

    Sølvi Ystad

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Lemaitre, G., Susini, P., Rocchesso, D., Lambourg, C., Boussard, P. (2014). Non-Verbal Imitations as a Sketching Tool for Sound Design. In: Aramaki, M., Derrien, O., Kronland-Martinet, R., Ystad, S. (eds) Sound, Music, and Motion. CMMR 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8905. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12976-1_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12976-1_34

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