Research and Creativity Seminar : Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions by Alex Chechile

DISTORTION PRODUCT OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS: MECHANISMS AND MUSICAL IMPLEMENTATIONS BY ALEX CHECHILE

Abstract

Distortion product otoacoustic emisions are sounds generated within the listener's ears upon physical and physiological interactions between spectral components in a given auditory input. The distortion products heard in the ear are frequencies not physically present in the acoustic space. The combination of tones generated by loudspeakers and those generated by the ear creates an auditory depth of field between sound sources, resulting in an acoustic environment where the listener becomes an active participant in the unfolding material.

This seminar will address the mechanisms behind otoacoustic emissions, an approach for incorporating the phenomenon into musical contexts, and other related concepts found within Alex Chechile's series On the Sensations of Tone.

Alex Chechile, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustic (CCRMA), is an artist and composer whose work develops in parallel with research in neuroscience, psychoacoustics, and the biomechanics of hearing. His electroacoustic compositions and installations bring transparency to otherwise invisible processes in biology and technology.

Free access Seminar - in English