Designing Continuous Sonic Interaction

Continuous interaction and multisensory feedback present tremendous challenges to designers who are mostly educated along the lines of visual thinking and discrete interactions. For this investigation, a method of research through pedagogical examples, called basic design and developed in some post-Bauhaus design schools, has been adopted to investigate various interaction primitives mediated by continuous sound feedback. Four basic design exercises, prototypical for different kinds of interaction with kitchen tools, are conducted. The exercises take on different design issues, which are tackled using a variety of strategies. These include the use of a classroom setting, shared observation, and self-reflection. The exercises emphasize auditory perception in interaction, where continuous sonic feedback is realized through parametric control of sound synthesis algorithms. In sum, the present work aims to exploit the value of basic design approach through explorations of sonic features in continuous interaction.