SoundNetwork@Home Commission
A Collaboration between Samantha Jones and Professor Chen-Hock Toh and his team at the Roald Dahl Haemostasis and Thrombosis Centre

Title

INHERENT ACOUSTICS

Proposal Overview ~

Collaborators Background Information ~

Artist: Samantha Jones is an International Artist, based in Liverpool, UK. She develops intelligent systems that analyze and respond to the physical environment. Predominantly working with Sound, Light, Electronics, Video and 3D Environments to create multi-sensory Public Installations and Audio -Visual performances. She has a particular interest in the analysis of sound-fields created by environments and affected by public involvement.

Non Artist Group: The Roald Dahl Haemostasis and Thrombosis Centre is based at Royal Liverpool Hospital. Head of the Centre, Professor Chen-Hock Toh and his Team treat patients with blood clotting problems. This is exemplified by patients who bleed spontaneously (e.g. haemophilia) to those who have excessive clotting problems with life-threatening thrombosis.

Proposal Key Words/Phrases ~

75 percent of these words/phrases are a common to both Sound and Medical language:

Exploration · Investigation · Evolution · Process · Physicality · Body · Blood Cell · Flow   · Spontaneous · Finely-Tuned · Resonant · Harmonics · Transmission · Vibration · Inherent ·Frequencies · Critical Bandwidth · Waveforms Analysis · Pulse Wave · Sound Fields   · Near/Far Fields · Absorption · Reflection · Amplitude · Radio Frequency. · Distant sites · Psychoacoustics.

Proposal Themes ~

Professor Toh is both eloquent and creative in his explaination of the Research and Treatment that takes places at the Roald Dahl Centre; during our discussions we became aware that there was an apparent commonality of language and theories within his teams research and acoustic research. This has lead to a the following of ideas and areas of interest we wish to explore during our proposed collaboration:

•  The physical and emotional effect that sound has on the body and at what point it moves from a positive to negative effect:

(a) How this reflects the research and treatment of clotting of the blood; Treatment has a critical point were it can have either a positive to negative affect.  

(b) Exploring the physical and emotional properties of sound through a series of sound transmission and medical test developed with the Centres Research Team and Patients.

•  Through the use of Psycho Acoustics experiments developed with the Research Team and Patients, we aim to explore mutual Evolutionary origin of Blood Clotting and Sound Perception:

Both are crucial mechanisms for survival, this finely tuned human response has been disrupted due the consequences of modern lifestyles and the urban living ,

~ In explaining the conditions of haemophilia and Thrombosis, Professor Toh says: 'Key to understanding this diversity of problems is the body's natural response to injury in stemming blood loss, is through forming a finely regulated blood clot.   This has been crucial for evolutionary survival .   But, due to modern lifestyles this finely-tuned process has become deregulated to cause new medical problems.'

~ Psycho Acoustics is the area of Acoustic Research investigating the human perception of sound which stems from human evolution and was critical for evolutionary survival . This is the human perception of sound, involves being able to pin point sounds, perceive loudness, frequencies, patterns, rhythm's/pulses and pitch.

Proposal Aims & Outcomes ~

· Presentation of research and acoustic experiments during Biennial Festival,

· If space is available   - Sounds Installation during Biennial Festival based on sonic research and experiments.

· In negotiation with the Sound Network; encourage Sound Network members to submit compositions and sound work based on the research- (1) for performance at Sound Network Biennial Events, (2) for installation at the Roald Dahl Centre during the Biennial Festival and also on a more permanent basis following the Festival

· The creation of an acoustic template that documents positive and negative responses to sonic stimuli by patients, drawn on tests exploring the emotional and physical response to sounds and Psycho Acoustic experiments; to be shared with sound artists and physicians / medical community to support and inform the development of sound art for medical environments

· Upload written and acoustic based research developed by myself and the Roald Dahl Centre team onto www.ambientscapes.co.uk and Sound Network site (if appropriate), this will be open-source resource that can be down loaded.

· Explore the development of a virtual, open source, sonic research, resource portal.

· Broaden peoples knowledge about the conditions of Haemophilia and Thrombosis and the work that is taking place at the Roald Dahl Centre

For Artist support material, please go to www.ambientscapes.co.uk

For Biography got to www.ambientscapes.co.uk/biography.html

For Recent Research got to www.ambientscapes.co.uk/ambientscapes.html

Or follow links form home page.

For information on the Roald Dahl Haemostasis and Thrombosis Centre go to:

http://www.rlbuht.nhs.uk/content/default.asp?web=243

Or

http://www.liv.ac.uk/haematology/hat.html

For information on the Professor Toh and his Research Team go to:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/haematology/res.html