Séminaire n°44

Intervenant : Kozo HIRAMATSU, Prof Emeritus Kyoto University, Japan

Contact : hiramatsukozo(at)gmail.com

Date : 17/02/2014

Abstract :
Brief introduction of TM-chart is presented including how it came out. TM-chart is a tool for visualisation of sonic environment on the basis of the information of sound species, their sound levels and their audible durations, which as a matter of course makes it possible to make comparison of different sonic environments. Apart from TM-chart, Environment Similarity Index has been developed to make quantified comparison of different sonic environments, which is also presented in the seminar.

Ce séminaire fait partie du workshop "The TM chart, A graphical (visual) Representations of sound(s)"

Representations of sounds mainly derives from the recorded numerical values in variations of pressure from sensors, along a three dimensional representation of frequency and intensity/amplitude along time. However, for the purpose of describing speech and music, these parameters are used to represent the basic concepts accounting for the specific acoustic phenomena such as phonemes or notes. Contemporary musicians invented new modes of representation for their sonic productions for which the traditional system of musical notation was reductive. For “every day” sounds the notation is still rarely considered as an issue, but it becomes problematic in the recent work on soundscape: How does one adequately represent the hybrid nature of a soundscape simultaneously as an acoustic phenomenon and as “the way it is perceived and interpreted by humans”? Usually, the measurement of sound level is associated with simple “labels” referring to sources which lack both explicit and graphical relation between both data types. A noticeable exception is the attempt to develop a tool, known as TM charts, which represent at once both the classical physical description (in time and intensity) and symbolic interpretation, in terms of categories of sounds. Besides the role of TM charts as a tool for representing soundscapes, we would also like to discuss whether it could be considered as an experimental mean to explore what type of knowledge is required to fill the gap between information (signal) processing and the cognitive representation of soundscape. Taking the opportunity of the presence of Prof. Kozo Hiramatsu in Paris, the workshop proposes to bring together acousticians, musicians to discuss this issue.

11h : "Comparing sonic environments; TM-chart and Environment Similarity Index" séminaire de Kozo HIRAMATSU

14h-17h : "Around TM chart : how to use, how to develop the tool for soundscape research"
avec les contributions de : Kazuya Minoura (Kyoto University) : new developments in TM chart
Edda Bild (INCA3) : TM chart for a human activity centered approach of Soundscape?
Danièle Dubois : The role of graphic (visual) representations in conceptual development
et la participation de Michel Risse, Boris Doval et Hugues Genevois.