SoundJam 2018: Acoustic Design For
Auditory Enrichment
Abstract
This workshop is designed to offer participants an
opportunity to explore different kinds of auditory
enrichment for a range of animals in different
environments. Teams of participants will work together
on a small set of briefs provided by domain experts,
brainstorming ideas and developing concepts into well-
designed blueprints for prototype devices. The day will
be organized along the lines of a traditional gamejam.
Author Keywords
ACI, audition, environmental enrichment, auditory
enrichment, acoustic design, gamejam, workshop,
physical computing.
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g.,
HCI): Miscellaneous.
Introduction
Animals have evolved forms of communication
(signaling) that work in a species-specific
environmental context – gestures that can be observed
from a range of distances, olfactory cues that can be
“posted” and remain until they dissipate, vocalisations
and other acoustic signals that act immediately but in
some cases with great range, enabling remote contact
with conspecifics. Without humans contributing to the
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ACI2018, December 4-6, 2018, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
© 2018 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).
Fiona French
London Metropolitan University,
166-220 Holloway Rd,
London, UK
f.french@londonmet.ac.uk
Reinhard Gupfinger
Tangible Music Lab
Institute of Media Studies
University of Art and Design Linz
Domgasse 1, 4010 Linz, Austria
reinhard.gupfinger@ufg.at
Paul Kendrick
Acoustics Research Centre
Room 105, Newton Building,
University of Salford,
Salford M5 4WT, UK
p.kendrick@salford.ac.uk
soundscape, their auditory perception and associated
cognitive abilities would have evolved in relation to
what was audible in the surrounding ecosystem.
As human populations expand over the globe, these
“natural-sounding” places are slowly disappearing.
People use sound insulating techniques to protect their
homes and working environments from sound pollution,
but animals living in urban and confined spaces must or
indeed our proximity, it can be argued that we have a
duty to consider their acoustic well-being as part of our
attention to their welfare and environment.
On the other hand, many non-human animals also
make a considerable amount of noise, particularly those
living in social groups. Since natural behaviour includes
demonstrating the ability to both make signals and
interpret others’ signals, it is important that an animal
has both the opportunity and the motivation to perform
this behaviour. It follows that if a social species is
housed independently or with a smaller number of
conspecifics than would naturally occur in the wild, it is
possible that their acoustic repertoire will be
diminished, along with the cognitive processing
required to discriminate between a range of sounds.
As a consequence of these issues, auditory enrichment
for animals in captivity can take two distinct forms –
negative, whereby noise levels are reduced, dampened
or masked in order to protect animals from intrusive
sounds (which could be of human origin or generated
by a nearby predator species), and positive, when
animals are offered acoustic experiences in order to
give them sensory, cognitive or social stimulation.
The workshop will focus on the design of auditory
enrichment for a small selection of different animals.
Motivation
Animals living in manmade environments may need
protecting from anthropophonic noise. Current
research in this area includes passive acoustic
monitoring where soundscapes are captured and
analysed to infer environmental parameters (Figs 3 &
4) [13], as well as animal behavioural studies [10].
Sensory enrichment uses devices which generate
visual, olfactory, tactile and acoustic stimuli.
Depending on the type of device, environmental
enrichment can encompass different categories – thus,
a puzzle feeder (Fig. 1) might simultaneously provide
cognitive, food, olfactory and tactile enrichment; a
suspended straw bale (Fig. 2) could offer food
(foraging), exercise and social opportunities.
Many examples of auditory enrichment involve keepers
(and researchers) selecting and playing sounds to the
animals in their care. Captive gorillas have shown
preference for natural sounds over either silence or
music (rock or classical) [12], while captive
chimpanzees preferred silence to music [15], as did
captive moloch gibbons [14]. On the other hand,
Vivaldi (classical) had an observable calming effect on
zebrafish [6], “classical music” seemed to reduce
stereotypic behaviour in zoo-housed elephants [16],
while soft rock and reggae has been documented as
reducing stress in kennel-housed dogs [2].
There are many studies in which the purpose of the
enrichment is to calm an animal, in which case it makes
However, a device designed for auditory enrichment
Cross-category
enrichment
Fig 1: Puzzle feeder
Capuchin explores pocket filled
with ice and strawberries,
Lakefield Monkey Sanctuary,
2014.
Courtesy Fiona French.
Fig 2: Suspended straw
Asian elephant family browsing at
Dublin Zoo, 2016.
Courtesy Fiona French
could have the potential to stimulate cognitive activity
if the target species was offered a control mechanism
that enabled interactivity. This could have the
additional benefit of enabling designers to learn more
about user preferences.
Several ACI researchers are making progress in this
direction. For example, Gupfinger and Kaltenbrunner
have developed interactive acoustic devices for captive
grey parrots (Fig. 5), which allow the birds to make
choices about generating sounds and music, with the
aim of gaining insight into how grey parrots perceive
and respond to different auditory stimuli [5]. Pons et al.
have focused on an exploration of orangutan behaviour
in relation to tangible objects with sound-controlling
properties [9]. This is specifically in order to offer
control and choice to the orangutans using moveable
objects that they freely manipulate as part of their
normal behaviour.
Biological salience is mentioned by Mancini and
Lehtonen [7] as a key factor in ACI design, and this
feature is reinforced by Ritvo and Allison [11] who
claim that ACI systems should be designed to mimic
and augment the user species’ natural behavioural
tendencies. These examples also showcase the
importance of volition and choice when designing sonic
enrichment, factors emphasised by Mancini and
Lehtonen. We believe that research in this area opens
up the possibility for redefining aesthetics so that it is
possible to take a more species-centric approach to ACI
design.
Aims and activities
The workshop aims to:
▪ Raise awareness of the value of auditory enrichment
amongst the ACI community and beyond.
▪ Provide opportunities for networking and creative
teamwork.
▪ Investigate novels ways of using technology to
support auditory enrichment
▪ Examine briefs (challenges) relating to different
species.
▪ Generate novel acoustic designs in response to
briefs.
▪ Produce and present design documentation.
We plan to undertake the following activities during the
event:
▪ Brief introductions for participants and members of
organizing committee.
▪ Structured workshop activities enabling people from
different backgrounds to meet and discuss specific
challenges in the field of auditory enrichment –
starting with brainstorming sessions where
participants work together to imagine concepts in
response to the briefs.
▪ Discussion of initial ideas leading to formation of
small teams focusing on collaborative design briefs
and creating early phase concepts.
▪ Opportunity to present final designs and answer
questions
▪ We plan to share the outcomes of the workshop in a
repository of ideas and support future collaborations
by keeping a record of participants’ skills and
interests. There will be a website dedicated to the
workshop and we will publicise it via our mailing lists
and personal contacts.
Technology supporting
auditory enrichment
Fig 3 and 4: Songmeter and
annotated soundscape
Installed at Mersey Gateway.
Courtesy Paul Kendrick
Fig 5: Grey parrot toy
Courtesy Reinhard Gupfinger
www.zoojam.org/soundjam
Biographies
Fiona French is a senior lecturer in the School of
Computing and Digital Media at London Metropolitan
University. She is course leader for BSc Computer
Games Programming and has organised several
gamejams and other play related public events. Her
research interests include Animal Computer Interaction,
physical computing and toy and game design and
development. Fiona is currently investigating the design
of playful interactive systems for elephants, as part of a
PhD in the Animal Computer Interaction Lab at The
Open University.
Reinhard Gupfinger is a university assistant and PhD
candidate researcher at the Tangible Music Lab at the
University for Art and Design Linz, Austria. He is
undertaking a study in the context of Animal Computer
Interaction (ACI) by designing musical instruments for
grey parrots.
Paul Kendrick is an acoustic engineer, with a research
focus in AI (machine audition). He has been
researching how to use acoustic signals to better
understand animals and the environment, focusing in
particular on analysis of soundscapes to assess
biodiversity.
Call for participation
This workshop aims to bring together expertise from
different disciplines, enabling participants to network
and move towards designing and developing exciting
new auditory enrichment experiences for a range of
animals.
The structure will follow the format of previous years’
ZooJam and FarmJam workshops [4] [3], which
generated a broad range of innovative enrichment
concepts in a relatively short time period. The
gamejam format shapes the design process by offering
both accelerated and constrained design [6] [8] with
different rewards for different participants – some
focused on outcomes, others on creativity, some on
having learning opportunities, others on networking
and finding potential research collaborators. To
facilitate this, the workshop outputs will be shared
publicly.
We invite participants from a wide range of
communities, including but not limited to game design,
computer science, engineering, education, HCI and ACI,
acoustic engineering, animal behaviour and
environmental enrichment. This is an opportunity for
those with an interest in animal welfare to share ideas
and explore the potential of using acoustic technology
to enhance enrichment.
We would like prospective participants to contact
workshop organizing committee to express their
interest.
References
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