Wednesday, 2 December 2020, 7 – 8pm

A panel discussion as part of the ‘Sonic Spaces’ series.

Wind-up music boxes; phonograph cylinders; gramophones; microphones; radio; magnetic tape; compact discs; MP3 players; synthetic voices. These are just a few of the sound technologies that have framed our experience of listening since the 19th century until the present day. And while audio transmission and recording processes have increasingly moved from analogue to digital systems, the cross-disciplinary nature of sound technologies remains. Frequently dependent on the technical expertise of audio engineers, such technologies heavily shape the media industries and, indeed, our daily lives.

This event will bring together a diverse panel of experts to discuss their experiences of employing sound technologies in creative ways: Enda Bates, deputy director of Trinity’s Music and Media Technologies programme, who will discuss his use of spatialized audio in 360-degree music videos; Zeynep Bulut (Queen's University Belfast) will discuss the collaborative research initiative Map a Voice, which explores sonic and social interactions between voice and environment; Mattia Cobianchi (Goldsmiths University and acoustic engineer at Bowers & Wilkins) on his historical sound project ‘London Street Noises’; and Neasa Ní Chiarain, from Trinity’s Phonetics & Speech Laboratory, who will discuss the ABAIR.ie Irish language learning website, and the development of synthesized voices for Irish.

The panel will be chaired by Linda Doyle, Professor of Engineering & The Arts at Trinity, and the founder Director of the SFI Research Centre CONNECT, a national research centre focused on telecommunications.

‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Jennifer O’Meara, Department of Film, as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. The series considers the creative possibilities of audio and sound culture as they relate to issues of society, technology, the environment and the body. It aims to encourage the academic and broader community to reflect on our relationship to listening and its significance. ‘Sonic Spaces’ is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/