Post-Immersive Experience Design

Affective and Accessible Spatial Audio

This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of research interest under the heading of: Post-Immersive Experience Design: Affective and Accessible Spatial Audio

We welcome all research degree applications aligned with and in response to this brief.

Project brief details

The advent of the new immersive era with its rapid rollout and implementation of spatial audio and immersive technologies risks these innovations becoming simply another ‘territory’ for exploitation instead of an opportunity to (re)calibrate and (re)design new ethical and inclusive principles for their creation and application.

Immersive technologies and practices can be expected to fundamentally transform commercial audio production, cinema, sound art, multimedia practices, and live performances, necessitating the development of new ethical frameworks. Whilst rooted in sound studies, this mission requires interdisciplinary exploration and this doctoral brief calls not only composers, sound designers, sound artists, cultural programmers, producers, and sound researchers, but all future creative industry and community stakeholders to join expert staff at the Falmouth University to:

Develop frameworks for ethical design in spatial audio technologies and of immersive spatial audio experiences
Investigate how spatial audio content can perpetuate biases and stereotypes, and developing methods to create more inclusive and representative sonic experiences.

Research how spatial audio experiences can be designed to be accessible and to develop standards and guidelines for creating spatial audio content that is perceivable and usable by a diverse audience.
Establish methodologies for, and design spatial audio experiences that prioritise the needs and preferences of users, and ensure engaging, accessible and affective user experiences
Developing new evaluation metrics and methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness and ethical implications of spatial audio experiences in terms of user engagement, accessibility, and emotional impact
Produce novel work that explore the ethical, accessible and affective potential of immersive spatial audio technologies and experiences, and their environmental, cultural and societal impact and implication

Strategic alignment

Projects deriving from this brief are expected to sit within the Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy and the following department.

Department	Academy of Music & Theatre Arts

All successful research degree project proposals must emphasise a clear alignment between the project idea and our Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy.

Project brief lead

Project_Antti Saario Headshot

Antti Saario

Project Supervisor: Dr Antti Saario

Dr Antti Sakari Saario is an award-winning post-acousmatic composer, sound and audio practitioner, researchers, and an audio professional. Antti's compositions have been performed in over 200 concerts, dance performances, festivals and installations in England, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil amongst other countries, and broadcast worldwide.

Find out more

How to apply

Apply for a Research MPhil or PhD

We welcome all research degree applications aligned with this Doctoral Project brief. To apply in response to this brief or learn about the application process click the button below.

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