Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol by Tobias Kappeler

Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol by Tobias Kappeler is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Gwobr Haearn A' Design Award in Symudol Competition Category.

HaearnSymudol· 2022

Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol

by Tobias Kappeler

Client: Tobias Kappeler Design

Gwobr Haearn A' Design Award Winner in Symudol Category

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Colors

The Design

About Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol

Mae Dinkum yn gymhwysiad symudol ar gyfer cyfathrebu sain ofodol. Mae Dinkum yn gosod sgyrsiau o bell y tu mewn i amgylcheddau sain y gellir eu haddasu. Gall defnyddwyr ddewis un o dri maint ystafell, a ddisgrifir fel clyd, achlysurol a mentrus. Gall defnyddwyr hefyd ddewis seiniau cefndir ambisonig, fformat sain amgylchynol sfferig llawn, sy'n cyd-fynd â math y sgwrs a'r cyfranogwyr. Gellir newid y pellter i gyfranogwyr eraill yn ystod yr alwad. Y nod yw cynyddu'r ymdeimlad o bresenoldeb a gwneud sgyrsiau o bell yn fwy naturiol a rhwydd.

The Recognition

About the Gwobr Haearn A' Design Award

Mae Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol yn enillydd Gwobr Haearn A' Design Award, cydnabyddiaeth fawreddog a roddir i ddyluniadau da sydd yn bodloni'r gofynion proffesiynol a diwydiannol a ddisgwylir gan greadigaethau wedi'u dylunio'n dda. Mae enillwyr Haearn yn dangos medrusrwydd mawr, arbenigedd uchel, dealltwriaeth arbenigol a gallu creadigol eu crewyr. Disgwylir i Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol fod yn greadigaeth uchel ei bri, a edmygir ac a anwylir, sydd yn ymarferol ac yn arloesol. Mae'r dyluniad buddugol hwn o Wobr Haearn A' Design Award yn integreiddio arferion gorau'r diwydiant ac mae ganddo nodweddion technegol cymwys wedi'u cysylltu â gwybodaeth ymarferol a dawn. Parchir Dinkum Cymhwysiad Symudol am ei drylwyredd ac fe'i dyluniwyd i ddarparu gwelliannau ansawdd bywyd sydd yn helpu i wneud y byd yn lle gwell.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Dinkum is a spatial audio communication tool that allows users to immerse themselves in customisable audio environments. Users can select from three room sizes (intimate, casual, adventurous) and different ambisonic (full-sphere surround sound format) background sounds that match the type of conversation and people they are speaking to. People can change their distance to other participants throughout the conversation, which adds an extra layer of interaction to remote conversations. Dinkum can increase participants sense of presence and intimacy in the conversation and increase conversation fluency.
Dimensions & Packaging: Dinkum was developed using the 3D Tune-In Toolkit real-time binaural spatialisation tool. This was utilised as a VST plugin within Ableton Live. The 3D Tune in Toolkit simulates the reverberation of different room sizes, the distance to the listener and the direction to the sound source. For user testing, I’ve developed a signal processing path that allows me to send an audio recording from a binaural microphone through Zoom.
Tags: Communication, Spatial Audio, Interaction design, Immersive experiences, Audio & Sound, Mobile application, Teleconferencing, Conversations,
Production Technology: The project was developed through iterative prototyping, intensive user testing and a strong collaboration between academia and industry. I used different plugins for the spatialisation of mono audio files in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and tested the experiences with different people. Furthermore, I built a binaural microphone for in-depth user testing with multiple people. I established a signal-processing path that allowed me to test with various users while being remote.
Design Challenge: The challenge was to create an environment that allowed me to test with the necessary fidelity and change the audio in real-time. An additional challenge was the visual representation of a 3D space with characters on a small smartphone screen which is easy to understand, interact with and is visually pleasing and unique. I overcame this through prototyping the interactions on the phone while affecting the audio and visual interface in real-time through OSC protocol and user feedback.
Research: The project started with an academic literature review and interviews on real-time spatialisation technologies. After intensive ideation on different applications, I moved into early experimentation and prototyping to get a better feel and understanding of the technology and its value. I used an iterative and human-centred design approach focusing on the experience. Experiments were analyzed with questionnaires with a Likert scale focusing on the presence and intimacy.
Inspiration: Throughout the pandemic, I realised the difficulties of remote collaboration and the lack of attention to the audio side of the experience. We are flooded with visual stimuli but a lot of these experiences lack the emotional aspect of the experience. User research and secondary research into spatial audio technologies strongly informed the development. As a music producer and DJ, I’m fascinated by the emotional characteristics of audio.
Project Duration: The project started in January 2021 and was developed by myself for my MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering until June 2021. The project will be exhibited at the yearly graduation show of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London in June 2021.
Operation Flow: To start a conversation, select the participants you want to speak to, select the room size which matches your conversations and participants, (Intimate, Casual, Adventurous) select the ambisonic background sounds and then start the call. Users can leave the room and create a new room during the conversations with individual participants. For recurring conversations, users can save groups and settings. In case a conversation drastically changes the topic.
Team Members: Tobias Kappeler