Ubiquitous Nuisance

A study on the effectiveness of soundwalk as a research tool to discover sources of urban noise in Singapore public parks.

Creative Coding, Textile and Technology, 2022-2023

Ubiquitous Nuisance examines the effectiveness of soundwalks in assessing the environmental impacts of urban noise pollution. Man-made noises have been overtaking our soundscape as society has developed. The design outcomes of this project were developed based on the field recordings of urban noises collected in Singapore's parks.

Click here for more information about this project.

“The soundscape of the world is changing. Modern man is beginning to inhabit a world with an acoustic environment radically different from any he has hitherto known. These new sounds, which differ in quality and intensity from those of the past, have alerted many researchers to the dangers of an indiscriminate and imperialistic spread of more and larger sounds into every corner of man's life. Noise pollution is now a world problem. It would seem that the world soundscape has reached an apex of vulgarity in our time. Many experts have predicted universal deafness as the ultimate consequence unless the problem can be brought quickly under control.”

— R. Murray Schafer, The Soundscape:
Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World

Natural Play Mat

Design Outcome 01

The Natural Play Mat represents a natural soundscape, but instead of the natural sounds we would expect, the conductive sensors will play recordings of various urban noises obtained from my field recordings. It illustrates the effect of urban noises on places of relaxation, such as our public parks.

In order to better immerse my audience in the environment of Singapore's public parks, I accompanied the Natural Play Mat with a compilation of short videos I took during my soundwalk trips.

Fig 1. Natural Play Mat Artefact.

Fig 2. Natural Play Mat Photos.

Fig 3. Natural Play Mat Materials.

Fig 4. Natural Play Mat Artefact Video.

Fig 5. Park Videos Slideshow.

Goosebumps Maker

Design Outcome 02

By rubbing against different textures, you can adjust how the particles react. The more vibration, the more distorted the image will appear. The purpose of this artefact is to simulate the effects of human actions on noise pollution.

Fig 6. Goosebumps Maker Artefact.

Fig 7. Textile Cube Photos.

Fig 8. Textile Cube Materials.

Fig 9. Gray Pigeon by Babek Gadirly. Fig 10. TouchDesigner Point Cloud.

Fig 11. TouchDesigner Screenshots.

Fig 12. Goosebumps Maker Artefact Video.

Printed Publication

Book, Card and Labels

This publication contains my soundwalks, my catalogue of making, and my final artefact design. In one of my TouchDesigner experiments, I used WorldCAST WebAR to create an augmented reality video. In addition to viewing the image distortion, my users will be able to listen to one of my field recordings by scanning the QR code provided. The back of the card was designed using a picture of a plant that I downloaded from Pexels. In order to help my audience better understand how to interact with my artefacts, I have used labels with illustrations to provide clear instructions and some background information about my design outcomes.