by melina.trummer -

Ear candy & storytelling with Sound Design

I want to explore Sound Design as a storytelling tool within a musical composition. The focus of this project is on musical details that are added to a song to make it more interesting. “Ear candy“ is a vague term used to describe sound effects, extra layers, rhythmic variations and other techniques which are supposed to make a song more interesting for the listeners. They can help to shape the soundscape and character of a song.

This project is not only about adding details to a song, but also about building a vocabulary for describing sound characteristics. The practical part of this project aims to combine songwriting and sound editing. The goal is the concept of a song that is enhanced with sound design elements.

Examples of ear candy

  1. The vocals in the song “Who let the dogs out” by Baha Men imitate the sound of a dog barking.
  2. Billie Eilish and her music producer Finneas O’Connell include sounds they recorded in real life as samples in their songs. One song by them features the drill of a dentist’s equipment, another one includes the sound of an Accessible Pedestrian Signal (APS). (APS are devices which are designed to help pedestrians who are blind or have low vision by providing non-visual cues like sounds and vibrations to indicate when it is safe to cross the road.)

Purpose of the project

The core purpose of my project is to analyze sounds, develop a vocabulary for my future sound design work and explore different ways to use sound design elements in musical compositions. Instead of treating sound design as a decorative or purely technical layer, I intend to explore it as a meaning-bearing, dramaturgical element.

Ultimately, the goal is not simply to produce a song but to research and articulate a method for using sound design as narrative strategy in music.

I want to
… compose a musical piece in which sound design shapes the narrative structure.
… create ear candy elements that contribute not only sonically but symbolically.
… develop a vocabulary to describe sound qualities and emotional functions in production.
… connect theory and practice when it comes to musical storytelling, sound design and sound editing.

Although the outcome is a standalone piece, the underlying methodology has broader applications:
·  Artistic practice: designing sonic narratives, creating atmosphere and emotional depth in music.
·  Music production: helping artists articulate a “sound world”.
·  Education & analysis: building tools for describing sound qualities and production strategies.

Possible techniques & methods

To narrow down the project, I might draw from several categories of methods. I hereby note that these categories were suggested to me by the LLM ChatGPT after several prompts telling the model which areas of Sound Design I would like to explore more.

A. Analytical Techniques
·  Harmonic analysis of emotion-driven chord progressions
·  Textural and spectral analysis of reference tracks
·  Identification of “Ear Candy” categories (e.g. foley events, sound effects etc.)
·  Development of descriptive vocabulary for sound qualities

B. Sound Design Techniques
·  Foley-based sampling (recording small sound events)
·  Textural layering
·  Creative vocal processing (pitch, formant, spatial modulation)
·  Unusual chord voicings or progression loops
·  Spatial mixing techniques for headphones (binaural cues, intimate panning)

C. Production & Composition Methods
·  Writing a narrative arc for the song
·  Mapping sound events to emotional or symbolic moments
·  Iterative prototyping: composing → sound-designing → analyzing → refining
·  Mixing for headphone emphasis
·  Evaluating how well each sound supports the story

Questions that will most likely occur during this project

·  How much Foley work is necessary to support the story of a song?
·  Which sound design elements risk becoming too literal or distracting?
·  How can I balance songwriting and sound design so that neither overwhelms the other?

by julia.trummer -

#8 Older Adults Approach to Learning

Update

So last week we had our peer review and I got some really interesting insights into what I could have done better with my blog posts. One big takeaway was that I probably should have stuck closer to the research question I set at the beginning of the course. That said, I think I needed that phase where I went more into “research mode” and just explored what’s already out there and what other people have worked on. I wanted to check whether the things I was talking about actually made sense in the first place. And yeah, they kind of did, but I can definitely see that I need to go much deeper into the topic of interaction design for the ageing population. This topic feels like a natural extension of accessibility and it’s especially important to me because I truly believe that access to digital products can help everyone.

This is why I will use these last two blog entries to cover my initial research questions.

How do older adults approach learning?

I asked myself this questions because sometimes I see elderly that

Older adults’ approach to learning is an active process of adaptation and integration, in which new information is filtered through many years of existing knowledge and personal mental models [1]. Their learning approach is often characterised by a preference for environmental support and immediate practical utility, which helps compensate for age-related changes in cognitive processing capacity [1].

Environmental Support refers to the external stimuli, tools or contextual cues that interact with an individual’s internal mental and physical operations to facilitate successful functioning. [2]

Cognitive Strategies and Processing

While for most older adults the desire to learn remains strong, the biological and cognitive mechanisms used to acquire those new skills undergo significant shifts. [1]

  • Processing Resources: Learning is often influenced by reductions in processing speed, working memory capacity and attentional focus. Because of that, older learners generally require more time to master new skills compared to younger adults. [1]
  • Strategy Selection: Older adults tend to initiate effective learning strategies less spontaneously than younger generations. They often perform a “cost-benefit” analysis, dropping strategies that are perceived as too effortful relative to their perceived efficacy. [1]
  • Thoroughness vs. Scanning: When searching for information, seniors often demonstrate greater thoroughness, for instance, examining multiple hyperlinks in detail rather than scanning and clicking only a few. [3]
  • Self-Initiated Processing: Deficits in learning are most apparent in tasks requiring effortful “self-initiated” processing, such as the active reorganisation of new material. [1]

Unique Mental Models

Older adults possess distinct mental models that shape how they conceptualise and interact with new information, particularly in technology.

  • Linear Logic (Storytelling): Seniors often intuitively adopt a linear, text-based approach to learning, resembling a storytelling session. This frequently clashes with modern digital design, which relies on multi-layered, screen-based logic. [3]
  • Focus on Social Norms: Older learners often prioritise social norms and “politeness” within their mental models. For example, in design workshops, some seniors insisted that digital interfaces should “thank” the user, sometimes valuing this politeness over technical accessibility features like font size. [3]
  • Contextual Challenges: Learning can be hindered by contextual confusion, where similar-looking elements (such as a search bar and an address field in a browser) are mistaken for one another. [3]

Sources

[1] I. Tournier, ‘Learning and adaptation in older adults: An overview of main methods and theories’, Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, vol. 37, p. 100466, 2022.

[2] F. Craik, ‘Memory Changes in Normal Aging’, Current Directions in Psychological Science – CURR DIRECTIONS PSYCHOL SCI, vol. 3, pp. 155–158, 10 1994.

[3] D. Orzeszek et al., ‘Beyond Participatory Design: Towards a Model for Teaching Seniors Application Design’, arXiv [cs.CY]. 2017.

[4] G. A. Wildenbos, L. Peute, and M. Jaspers, “Aging barriers influencing mobile health usability for older adults: A literature based framework (MOLD-US),” Int. J. Med. Inform., vol. 114, pp. 66–75, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.03.012.