Applying soundscape to creating an interactive and cultural centered experience

Abstract

Soundscape, the composition of Sound and Landscape proposed by Schafer [2] in 1970s, refers to the environmental landscape composed of sound. Extended from acoustic studies, soundscape study stresses more on the bonding relationship between sound and social culture. This research aims to apply sound as the key element to design travel web and mobile applications could have travel offer cultural experience and emotional awareness and further construct a new design. Focusing on local sound, local soundscape is investigated in this study. Assisted with literature review, field research, and in-depth interview to analyze local characteristics and soundscape, the design elements are integrated in the travel web design, the soundscape with rich historical, geographic, ecological, and cultural information is confirmed, and the soundscape web design framework is proposed. The framework does not simply plan travel map and local travel web, but could provide designers with the abstract method for soundscape elements for being applied to digital media, mobile application design, and experience design. Finally, several suggestions and considerations are concluded.