Rapid Prototyping of Soundscapes for Heritage Spaces using Ambisonic Audio and 360 Video Technology

Harrison, Luke

Abstract

The Science and Industry Museum have recently renovated the UK’s first passenger railway station. The museum contacted the performance department to perform and record some historical extracts from accounts of passengers from this time, for interactive/ambient playback in the space. From this small project, further work has been conducted in bringing additional sonic elements into the space to bring back a sense of the time of the 1830’s. This consists of a soundscape using information and sound generated from the archives of the museum group. A project and partnership very much in its infancy, this has been treated as a test bed for the potential of current sound, technology and performance in museum spaces. The goal is to explore the enhancement and increase accessibility and immersion of exhibits, experiences and historical knowledge. In creating this work, attention has been paid to prior research in this area into how the soundscape is approached. Previous work states ‘it has been claimed that museums are increasingly popular because of the materiality of their objects’ (Bagnall & Rowland, 2010) and so this has fed into the design approach. At the same time, ‘Sound is increasingly becoming a medium of choice for presenting the exhibition narrative’ (Bubaris, 2013) has also been considered. It is these initial findings and methodologies that have been explored.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: The Place of Industry - A Science Museum Group Conference
• Start Date: Nov 4, 2019
• End Date: Nov 5, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 20, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 29, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed