The object of the my Academy of Finland postdoctoral project (2014-2017)is to investigate and tap the potential of structure-borne sound as a medium for musical expression. Structure-borne sound is defined as audio-rate vibration induced into a solid element, giving rise to air-borne sound diffusion as well as to audiotactile perception when the vibrating element is brought in direct physical contact with the body. Structural audio vibration is an everyday phenomenon. It is omnipresent in music, for instance via the vibrating soundboards of chordophones and percussions. However, the electronic music praxis has almost exclusively adopted the moving-coil loudspeaker as its tool for sound diffusion. Structure-borne sound presents numerous possibilities for transforming a range of solid objects into sound-emitting speakers and thus a radical alteration of the established sound practice in music, theatre, installation art and intermedia forms. Sound can be induced into the structures and furniture of the performance space with structure-borne sound drivers, producing a macro-scale « instrument ». Sonically active architectures can also be designed, with altered acoustics or noise-cancelling properties. Audiotactile perception can be added to a concert setting, introducing a new perceptual dimension to the musical experience.
This line of research merges issues of artistic creation, sound perception and sound driver technology in order to create a fertile research dynamic between art, science and technology. The two central research questions are the optimization of structure-borne sound quality for musical use, as well as the combination of vibrating solid elements, audiotactility, acoustic instruments and loudspeakers into « composite aural spaces », i.e. spatial instances of multiple sound-source audio.
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