The vocation of the Closed project is to offer a new approach to sound design for tools— for artistic, measurement, and assessment purposes—for the design of everyday objects. This project is part of the larger domain of industrial design and can be represented graphically as seen here:
The design process is seen as an iterative loop. The initial phase of analysis leads to the creation of specifications of the qualities of the sound to be produced. The creation phase uses these specifications that are then validated based on the initial specifications. If need be, the production is refined and passes again through the creation-evaluation loop. Closed focuses on the creation of tools for measurement destined to be used by designers in their creative processes.
These tools are associated with functional, aesthetic, and emotional aspects of sound; the designer can shape the sounds of daily objects while assessing the results of their creation. The evaluation tool will be made up of a group of easily understood indicators measuring functional, aesthetic, and emotional responses that will be connected to a specific usage for the product. This project brings together four European laboratories and is structured around four principal domains:
- Sound synthesis based on a physical modeling approach (solid, liquid, etc.). Synthesis is controlled via physical and perceptive parameters oriented toward interactive design.
- Study of the perception of environmental sounds and their perceptive and cognitive organization. Integration of the aesthetic and functional aspects perceived in sound in the design process and assessment of their emotional impact.
- Study of new uses for sound design. Creation of principles of sound interaction of an object in relation to perception and cognition. Elaboration of scenarios via sound prototypes that promote user/object interaction.
- Techniques for learning and automatic classification of sounds based on physiological models for an automatic aesthetic, functionality, and emotional evaluation of the sound included in the sound design process.
