A taxonomy of sounds both object and user centred
Invited paper
Octogone EA 4156
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 17:40 - 18:00
0.6 Madrid (49)
Abstract:
Humans have long structured the world into taxonomies. However, developing a
taxonomy of sounds remains a complex issue. A scientific classification of sounds
usually splits sounds into three types, each analyzed within a unique respective
domain as a consequence of the goals of those domains: (1) speech, as studied by
phoneticians; (2) music, as studied by musicians; and (3) everything else (alarms,
natural sounds, and all so-called “noise”) as studied by psychoacousticians. This
division is a consequence of the goals of the domains in which they are studied.
However, each scientific domain is not constituted only be the sounds investigated,
but by other considerations such as the use of a given sound within the context of a
communication act, for example, within linguistics; or in harmonics, for musicology.
The criteria used to categorize sounds are so diverse and contextual that it is likely
impossible to positive a singular, exhaustive formal taxonomy.
We address this issue by positing complementary object and subject oriented
approaches that simultaneously account for signal properties and human perception,
respectively. That is, this taxonomy considers both source sound characteristics and
sound uses in positing four main branches: (1) speech and music (categorized
together as both belong to systems); (2) environmental sounds; (3) warning sounds;
and (4) animal sounds. We describe the differences between each class in terms of
intentionality, active control, system state indicator or human hearing adaptation.