The sonic nature of an emotion

: designing emotional timbre

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to make a qualitative assessment of the various phenomena and interrelationships that shape our emotional connections with timbre. By better understanding this concept and its intricate contours, we believe that we can contribute to the ability of greater effectiveness in sonic and artistic expression. Through an approach based on the Grounded Theory methodology, we gathered information in collaboration with a group of 12 artists and professionals with proven relevance in the field of timbre design. This approach allowed us to combine preexisting literature and quantitative evidence with the missing qualitative and empirical knowledge. From the interviews we were able to identify the key factors contributing to the artist’s emotional relationship with timbre. As a result from the practitioners group, the research was guided by the construct that timbre is a sound property that conveys a large amount of sonic information, or clues as we called them, that completes a timbral message. It is suggested that this timbral message is further modulated by a number of personal and general paradigms. These, which we have termed "shifting paradigms," are simultaneously social, cultural, generational, and economic in nature. As these paradigms evolve over time, the ones we focus on are relevant to the present era. We also contribute with a contextualization of our relationship to timbre in different artistic contexts. The contextual variables on which our perception of timbre depends and how different artistic contexts are prone to liberate or constrain our mostly visceral relationship to timbre are tentatively explained. In this dissertation we will also list a number of acoustic and psychoacoustic factors that contribute to shape our emotional relationship to timbre. By first understanding how the cognitive process tends to imprint innate and acquired knowledge into the interpretation of a timbral message, we will be able to bridge the gap between what is physically felt and what is psychologically relevant. This paves the way for the practical exploration of acoustic and psychoacoustic phenomena such as sound gesture, timbral dynamics and temporal exposure, soundstage, reverberation and spatialization as the group of aspects that most influence the perception of the emotional valence of timbre.

Date of Award	14 Jun 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Duarte Pestana (Supervisor)