Seeing Sounds, Hearing Shapes is an interactive web-app that tests your ability to match sounds with drawings.

Humans are capable of detecting the most minute differences between noises, but struggle to accurately describe how a sound sounds. For Seeing Sounds, Hearing Shapes 28 participants were asked to describe a sound by sketching an image. Visitors are invited to explore these images and test their perception of sound in an interactive game.

In the 1920s, Wolfgang Köhler, a prominent member of Gestalt psychology, found that people associate particular kinds of shape with the sound of made-up words ‘takete’ and ‘maluma’ [1]. Since then, many studies have confirmed and extended these associations, leading to general theories about ’how a sound looks’. These sound-shape associations also apply to instrumental sounds [2] and can be useful for exploring sounds in the context of music production [3]. Building on this research, Löbbers is working towards building an interactive system that can output sound based on simple drawings. 

Sebastian Löbbers - DE

Sebastian Löbbers is an artist and researcher working in digital media, sound and interactive design. His works have been staged and exhibited internationally in galleries, performance halls and music venues, often in collaboration with choreographers and writers. Recent projects have been displayed at Ars Electronica, Trinity Laban and WeSA Festival. His current research explores crossmodal associations between musical timbre and visual shapes.

s.lobbers@qmul.ac.uk
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