Synesthesia-based interactive data project

Each person's words contain his own information. The information in the same sentence may vary due to different states of speakers. By listening to these voices, we can feel the mood, emotion, and even character of speakers. Sound, however, is a sonic wave generated by the vibration, which cannot be touched. So how to transform this invisible existence into a tangible entity?

During my exploration, I found a unique material--hand-made paper. With adjustment of the parameters in the paper-making process, hand-made paper of various textures and thicknesses can be produced. Plain paper resembles a natural outpouring of emotion in voices, while the ever-changing textures of hand-made paper and the complex emotions contained in voices seem to share a subtle correlation.

I collected recordings of my friends and teachers saying, "Don't muddle along." Pitch, volume and speed, the three elements of voice, are turned into the data required in the paper-making process, corresponding to the roughness, thickness and length of the paper respectively.

In this Sound Wave picture, the peak value represents the volume, and the distance between two peaks is the frequency. Meanwhile, The mean value of 2 peaks’ distance represents the tone.