Sonic immersion : interactive engagement in real-time immersive environments

This paper approaches the interactive sound environment from the perspective of practice-led research, applying experiential feedback as a means of theorising developments in artistic practice with a predilection for the Kantian empiricists’ perspective.  David Borgo discussed the dichotomies implicit in the distinctions between the doing and the knowing forms of knowledge.  He claims that knowing “comprises static information structures within one’s head, and doing refers to the straightforward process of executing a given operation based on these pre-existing knowledge structures” (2005: 178). Where knowledge structures are pre-existent, this model is useful, however in the relatively new domain of interactive sound installations, existing theory is limited.  Whilst I am working from the perspective of a musician/sound artist, musical theory (musicology or composition theory) is so entangled in a labyrinthine collection of ‘musical’ thought that it does not generally elucidate the experience of interactive, sonic immersion.  Theories from new-media and electronic arts are commonly also too removed from the empirical, that they at best describe the framework in which the experience occurs. Discussions such as this paper therefore need to borrow theories from other disciplines despite giving precedence to the empirical whilst discussing the underlying design and production methods used to heighten the experience of a nuanced individual engagement within such an installation.