Sound as a project requirement. Evolution of an experimental tool for psychoacoustic evaluation of materials in architecture and design

Sensory as a vehicle of information is today a relevant topic. For many years, the immediacy and spontaneity of the visual approach has supported several theories affirming living in a real “eye culture”. Nowadays, these theories are overtaken, and architects and designers are more and more willing to enclose all the multisensory aspects in their projects. In this context, in Politecnico di Torino developed SounBe, an innovative-patented tool and method conceived in support to the selection of the most suitable materials within the possible hyper-choice, taking into consideration also the sound as a project requirement. Nevertheless, an effective validation of the efficacy of SounBe tool and method was still lacking. Therefore, the aim of the Doctorate research was to validate SounBe tool and method, verify its accuracy as a design tool as well as the effectiveness of the subjective tests performed following its method, and find out any possible improvement. A huge experimental phase was carried out in the anechoic chambers in Politecnico di Torino and IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris. The workspace was selected as testing ground because of the existing relationship between the acoustic conditions of the work environment and workers’ health, job satisfaction and wellbeing; office chair rolling sounds represented the main case-study of the experimentation. More than ninety subjects took part to different listening tests performed in ecologic, laboratory and SounBe conditions, comparing from time to time the results of the descriptive processes adopted to give a qualitative characterization to the sound. Subjective data were compared to objective measures, to better interpret the qualitative judgement. The key point of the validation was demonstrated: the comparability of sounds obtained with the SounBe method and from the real object in action, which was assumed as a reference, was proved. Moreover, a second objective of the research was looking for a possible implementation of the method. Therefore, a set of tests adopting the semantic differential technique were performed, disclosing the possibility to adopt also this technique to sounds obtained with SounBe tool. A final step of this Doctorate research consisted in a direct comparison with enterprises, in order to verify the potential interest of firms in investing on this innovative technology. In this context, the positive feedback as well as its acceptance by firms let hypothesize new activities to carry out after the Doctorate research. Some possible future steps could be finalized to the realization of a new working prototype, as well as the launch of a starting exploitation phase of the technology.