Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste by Tobias Kappeler

Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste by Tobias Kappeler is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Duais Iarainn A' Design Award in Dearadh Soghluaiste Competition Category.

IarannSoghluaiste· 2022

Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste

by Tobias Kappeler

Client: Tobias Kappeler Design

Duais Iarainn A' Design Award Winner in Soghluaiste Category

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The Design

About Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste

Is feidhmchlár soghluaiste é Dinkum le haghaidh cumarsáide fuaime spásúla. Cuireann Dinkum comhráite cianda isteach i dtimpeallachtaí fuaime insaincheaptha. Is féidir le húsáideoirí ceann de thrí mhéid seomra a roghnú, ar a dtugtar dlúth, neamhfhoirmiúil agus eachtraíoch. Is féidir le húsáideoirí fuaimeanna cúlra amais-fhónacha a roghnú freisin, formáid fuaime timpeallachta lánsféarach, a oireann don chineál comhrá agus do na rannpháirtithe. Is féidir an fad chuig rannpháirtithe eile a athrú le linn an ghlao. Is é an aidhm ná an mothú láithreachta a mhéadú agus comhráite cianda a dhéanamh níos nádúrtha agus níos líofa.

The Recognition

About the Duais Iarainn A' Design Award

Bhuaigh an dearadh Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste Duais Iarainn A' Design Award, aitheantas gradamach a bhronntar ar dhea-dhearaí a chomhlíonann na riachtanais ghairmiúla agus thionsclaíocha a bhíonn á n-éileamh ó chruthuithe a ndearnadh go maith iad. Léiríonn buaiteoirí Iarainn scil mhór, speisialtóireacht ard, tuiscint saineolaí agus cumas cruthaitheach a gcruthaitheoirí. Táthar ag súil go mbeidh an dearadh Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste ina chruthú a bhfuil an-mheas air, a n-ardaítear agus a ghráitear atá praiticiúil agus nuálach. Comhtháthaíonn an dearadh seo a bhuaigh Duais Iarainn A' Design Award na cleachtais is fearr sa tionscal agus tá saintréithe teicniúla inniúla aige nasctha le heolas agus le tallann. Tá meas ar an dearadh Dinkum Feidhmchlár Soghluaiste as a dhúthracht agus dearadh é chun feabhsuithe cáilíochta beatha a sholáthar a chabhraíonn leis an domhan a dhéanamh ina áit níos fearr.

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