Alberto Gatti / Re-sounding bodies 2/4 : Claire Richards
Without her, Alberto Gatti’s artistic research residency would never have been possible, for the simple reason that the multimodal harness, which this residency is based on, is her invention. For this second episode, we thought it essential to interview the person who imagined and developed it as part of her thesis which she conducted at IRCAM and defended in February 2023 : Claire Richards.
Legend has it that bone conduction, or osteopathy, emerged in the 15th century with the creation of the first hearing aid, which consisted of the patient holding a stick that was connected to a musical instrument between their teeth. This technique allowed the subject to “hear” the sound of the instrument in the case of a hearing deficiency (but only if the nerves were intact). Beethoven himself is rumored to have used this device in order to hear what he was playing on the piano.
Similarly, the multimodal harness Alberto Gatti is working on also relies on the principle of bone conduction. Invented by Claire Richards, the idea of the harness came from her sensory experience as a person with a hearing deficiency:
“I have trouble hearing frequencies between 400Hz and 4000Hz, but it opened me up to a new way to listen to music, which relies on tactile perception of vibrations. I remember being little and liking to touch the piano when my sisters were playing it, or feeling the vibrations of a guitar’s cords under my fingers. I have always been receptive to the sensory and haptic aspects of music, which is where the idea of listening to music with the body –and even composing music for the whole body and not only for the ears – came from.”
© Roland Cahen
That is how she came to develop the first version of this harness, which she named Insound, as part of her Master’s degree at ENSCI (L’école nationale supérieure de création industrielle, lit. “National College of Industrial Design”) in 2016-17. “Insound was a simpler version of the harness that we have today, both in terms of structure and electronic integration. My thesis supervisor, Roland Cahen, helped me become accustomed to tools such as Max, which allowed me to make a few attempts at programming in order to achieve sound spatialization on the body surface with this first device.”
Let us stop here a moment to specify that the concept of spatialization that is mentioned here is different from what is commonly referred to as “spatialization” at IRCAM and in the musical field at large, which has to do with localizing a sound source within a space (such as a concert venue). In this case, what we are focusing on is corporal spatialization, that is to say a spatial perception of sound on the body surface. By working on spatial transitions of sound from one transductor to another on the multimodal harness, we can for instance create the feeling of a sound or even a sound wave that is going through the body, much like the feeling of waves when you are in the sea.
It is quite difficult nevertheless to recreate a true spatial perception that is comparable to ambisonics or binaural rendering, as sound remains essentially perceived by the ears even when it is spread through the body from the lower spine. It is completely different from aerial audio which allows you to perceive whether sound comes from the left or the right. When using the multimodal harness, it is the vibrations transmitted by the transductors and felt at the surface of the skin that give the impression you are “listening” from different parts of your body.
“Another kind of spatialization that I started wanting to explore when reaching the end of my thesis, was the feeling of being inside an instrument’s soundbox or even of being “played” directly by the musician. This way, sound and body become one”, explained Claire Richards, who had already started working with Alberto Gatti.
Claire Richards portant le harnais photo 1 © Véronique Huygues de l'ENSCI Les Ateliers photo 2 : © Yann Teytaut
The structural principle of the harness was quickly adopted during the design stage. Its shape makes it easier to maintain the transductors in contact with the skin but also to target specific areas that Claire Richards has identified as sound conducive – such as the cervical region and the collarbones, which can detect frequencies up to 2000Hz, even when “natural” hearing through the ears is completely cut off.
“I wanted to explore the idea of targeting both axes of the body; the horizontal axis which includes the ribs and collarbones, and the vertical axis consisting of the vertebrae – which I specifically focused on as part of my thesis in order to study the possibility of perceiving changes depending on the distance to the head. For this, I have to thank the Atelier des Vertugadins who was a precious partner in the development of the device.”
This multimodal harness is, to Claire Richards’ knowledge, the first of its kind. Its uniqueness has to do with the areas of the body it is targeting, but also because it covers a large range of frequencies, from the lowest to the highest, while isolating the tactile perception from the auditory perception of sounds.
Today, Richards has left IRCAM’s lab and is now working for the startup Pulse Audition at Sophia Antipolis to participate in the development of highly innovative auditory glasses. These glasses are designed for people suffering from mild to moderate auditory loss to help them isolate the sounds produced by voices or a conversation, from background noise. “The glasses’ temples integrate microphones and a real-time AI app which allows them to capture and filter sounds in real time and render only voices.” A device that Richards intends to be the first to try on, and which has a more practical than artistic purpose. Despite this new engagement, she remains in close contact with Alberto Gatti and the Perception and Sound Design team. “Even though I am no longer working there, it does not prevent me from keeping up with their developments and to stay available in case they have any questions regarding the device. I personally consider this project to be completed now, but who knows, maybe someone else will carry on with it?”
“I am nevertheless very interested in seeing what Alberto will do with it and the kind of music he will write. The time we spent working together during my thesis gave him the opportunity to learn how to use the device and to test it. He even produced beautiful short audio-tactile studies, but he was only getting started then. I am glad that this residency is giving him more time to really compose and develop his musical creativity with the multimodal harness.”
Gatti has the opportunity, therefore, to make Richards’ childhood dream come true: writing music for the body.
Interview conducted by Jérémie Szpirglas