Sounds Like Education

Steps from stimulus to response


Protocol

 

1.  Record – with a phone, laptop, or a digital recorder – 10 minutes of any lecture you’re attending.

2.  With the help of editing software (such as Audacity [open source]), remove all spoken words from the file. Coughs, laughs, mumbling, etc., may be left.

3. Give the file a title that tells what the lecture was about and submit your manipulated recording.

Tutorial

*For full screen mode, press play and then click the YouTube button on the bottom right.

Processing Code

(defun cosine (freq)
  (abs-env (hzosc (snd-pwl 0 *sr* (list 0 freq (1- *fr*)freq *fr*)) *table* -90)))
(setf snd (send class :new '(sound)))
(send snd :answer :isnew '(snd) '((setq sound snd)))
(send snd :answer :next '() '(
  (let ((temp (snd-fft sound *fr* *hp* *win*)))
        (if temp 
            (snd-samples (mult *phase*  (snd-from-array 0 *sr* temp)) ny:all)))))
(defun scramble (sig)
  (snd-ifft 0 *sr* (send snd :new sig) *hp* *win*))
;;; Globals
(psetq *sr* *sound-srate* *fr* 16384 *hp* 8192)
(setf *phase* (cosine (/ *sr* 2.0)))
(setf *win* (s-sqrt (sum 0.5 (mult 0.5 (cosine (/ *sr* *fr*))))))
(multichan-expand #'scramble s)

Background


This protocol explores sounds and silences as educational media, focusing specifically on the educational aspects of sound recording.

In education, sound recordings may be used to support or replace note-taking, to verify what was said during class, or, in case the listener was not present in the lecture, to distribute teaching beyond the confinements of the physical classroom. In other words, they function as tools of remembrance and distribution – two activities that have close ties to the history of education. Recordings are also political. In the U.S., some conservative groups encourage students to record their ‘liberal’ professors in order to ‘expose’ their ideological basis.

However, speech is but one sound of education. The other sounds – the sound of the room, of the furniture, of bodies moving and acting – constitutes the very milieu, a soundscape, where education takes place. How, then, to remember and distribute this milieu? What could we learn from it, what would it mean to study it?

Protocol Working Group


Sebastian Schlecht, Ph.D., Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, School of Electrical Engineering / Department of Media, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

Tomi Slotte Dufva, D.A., Department of Art, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

Taneli Tuovinen, D.A., Department of Art, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

Juuso Tervo, Ph.D., University-Wide Art Studies, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

Annika Sohlman, MA, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Art, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland


Submitted Content
 

Gina Cruz — Voice Taken Out of ASU Advisor Lecture
This is a lecture I attended while I was in high school about how to set up things related to getting into ASU such as financial aid, majors, orientation, etc. An academic advisor came to my school and set up an informational lecture for people who had gotten accepted into ASU. This lecture is full of useful information about how to apply for scholarships, how to choose a major for college, what housing is like, and when to attend freshman orientation. It was interesting listening to it now that I am already attending ASU. Time flies.

 

 

Comments

Comment: 
This is a recording from a lecture from my BLE 407 class on zoom. Our professor was discussing how we can implement world events like the coronavirus in our classrooms. Some examples we discussed were exponential growth and comparing bacteria to viruses. Another student suggested using economics to create a budget with the 1200$ check some Americans will be receiving. She also discussed that we should discuss the topic in a sensitive way because students may know someone who was affected by the virus. This lecture helped me consider how I can talk about world problems in class and how they can improve students' learning.

Comment: 
This is a recording from a lecture from my Art in American art history course. In the lecture my professor was discussing art that emerged in the Puritan era, the lecture shows images of iconic artwork of that time and descriptions of those works. The lecture covers material that will be on an exam and the lecture helped me learn important pieces and artists in this portion of art history that will later be tested on. My professor discussed art in the first American colonies, famous American colonist artists, portraits of important people and artwork that centralized upon Native Americans.

Comment: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uMWhrl8yXxXFeJBHp-lW5ONeTyp0W5CV/view?usp=sharing In class we were discussing how we will be turning in our assignments and the change of direction we would have to take for our project due to all classes being online, It has been difficult for this class as it is a studio class, while the projects are open ended with the medium and direction, many did struggle. Some students would need to take their project to a whole different direction. Talking about how all images, PowerPoints, and such would be posted in the google classroom. How we will meet every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays aside from field research days. Also to make sure to check the updated syllabus as things had changed to fit the new format, and that critics for the projects will still be going as planned.

Comment: 
For me , this project was sort of difficult because I recorded my lecture on my phone. For this project, I decided to use my recording of a lecture from my modern art history class. We had a guest speaker who was a photographer. He talked about the different world movements he attended and some cultural elements that had to do with his photography. I chose this lecture because it was exactly 12 minutes! My intentions going into this project was to hear nothing but various noises, not including the guest speaker. Basically background noise. I learned that different sounds make up the environment. Not just one but multiple. Usually you do not pay attention to other noises so this experience made me realize the noises in my surroundings.

Comment: 
For this protocol, I recorded myself listening to an online lecture for my ASU AZ and US Social Studies class that was titled Maps and Other Geographical Representations. For ease, I recorded the sounds around me while I listened to the lecture using my headphones. I thought going into this that you would be able to very clearly hear the sounds of my family in the background; of the washing machine and dryer running and my mom watching Netflix in the next room. What I found, is that I make a lot of noise while just existing. My insides are gurgling, I'm sighing, yawning, burping, swallowing my spit, cracking my ankles, and adjusting my position. And it was precisely those sounds that made up the majority of the recording.