Laurent et Vincent Isnard 2/4 : Acousmatic massages / Isabelle Viaud-Delmon
Researcher affiliated to the Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces team, Isabelle Viaud-Delmon Delmon also leads the scientific team involved in Sound/Music and Health in the STMS lab. Having previously co-directed Vincent Isnard’s thesis, she is now supporting him in the artistic research residency project he is undertaking with his brother, Laurent Isnard.
Isabelle Viaud Delmon © Deborah Lopatin
Vincent and Laurent’s artistic research residency falls into the framework of the Sound/Music and Health research team, which has recently been formalized by the High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres). As head of the team, can you tell us what it does?
These last few years, we have collectively realized that many of our research teams focus on applications that are, in some ways, more or less related to the field of health. This observation led us to mutualise our forces and create a cross-functional group which connects all the STMS lab teams. We received the support of CNRS, which allowed us to hire a research engineer specifically assigned to this new team.
Hasn’t the relationship between sound, music and health already been studied?
Many studies highlight the beneficial effects of musicotherapy, but they unfortunately do not allow us to draw any conclusions because it is difficult to pinpoint one single common factor. Selecting the specific type and parameters of the musical intervention remains a sticking point. Each operator plays an essential role and brings something different, which means they cannot simply be replaced by another. Finally, following protocols can take a very long time. For all these reasons, studies are difficult to compare and evidence is hard to find. Nonetheless, if I wanted to compare the effects of live vs. video recorded musical interventions – involving the same operator, music, discourse and visual background to obtain compelling results – I could mention Séverine Sanson’s project, undertaken at the University of Lille, and which involved senior individuals with dementia. It is a very thorough study that was conducted with a variety of tools to measure the participants’ socio-emotional and physical engagement and involved a relevant control group. The analyses of this study have not yet been delivered but a general conclusion was given: the live intervention was more impactful than the one that was video recorded.
How is this residency different from these previous studies?
One of the main questions raised by Vincent and Laurent Isnard pertains to the potential contradiction between artistic and wellbeing practices. It is a very complex question which I do not have the tools to answer to, as I am not a specialist in this domain. To be honest, while I find it important that this practice remains artistic, it is not what I am most interested in. Nevertheless, we observe that most degrees in musicotherapy are pursued in universities specialising in the fields of medicine or pharmacology, or in medical institutions – which means that they completely omit the level of musical excellence that is required in this field. In my opinion, these specialisations should also be implemented in conservatories. It is the artistic dimension of Vincent and Laurent’s project that I immediately found interesting: both are very experienced artists who greatly rely on their artistic practice. From a scientific standpoint, I think it would also be very interesting to see their experiences conducted with the same protocol but by other operators who do not have the same requirement in their aesthetic approach.
Besides this aesthetic requirement, what did you find appealing in their project?
First of all, their project perfectly addresses the issue of the interaction between tactile and auditory perception, which we study closely in our work on multisensory processing and would like to focus on even more. In addition, Vincent and Laurent propose to establish a kind of library of sounds that is conducive to improve wellbeing – which falls perfectly within the Sound/Music and Health team’s perspectives.
Doesn’t this kind of sound library already exist?
Not really. Not of that kind, at any rate. Here, we are talking about a collection of pleasing sounds that do not deal with any other kind of semantics and, more importantly, that are spatialised, through electronic or human processing. In the case of Vincent and Laurent’s project, no sound can exist without a space.
On the other hand, conceiving a library also implies categorising sounds according to relevant criteria to then enable a reflection on potential treatment proposals adapted to specific needs and based on that artistic practice. In other words: what sounds for what effects?
Does this artistic research project falls within the Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces team’s or any of IRCAM teams’ line of research?
Not directly: the research we conduct is mostly experimental, which is evidently not the case here for this artistic research residency. But we have been studying the way auditory spatial perception can influence tactile perception for nearly ten years now, and Vincent and Laurent’s project gives us the opportunity to try a new approach to our work.
How does Ircam support this research?
In terms of technical support, Vincent and Laurent were able to use spatialised sound with Ambisonic rendering, which allowed them to explore the idea of a spatial envelope and its effects as part of their practice. We also contribute to the reflection surrounding the experimental stakes of this project in order to identify relevant factors, which could help validate the effects of that practice. For instance, we can arrange simulations that could potentially demonstrate interactions between different modes of perception. By assigning this artistic research residency to a team whose work focuses on three-dimensional sound environment, we will also attempt to provide spatialised recordings with Ambisonics rendering that can be used again later within the framework of other research projects or collaborations.
What part do you play in this residency?
Mainly, I try to be a benevolent observer. I hope that the feedback I gave Laurent and Vincent on the first sessions they conducted with an idea of applying their research in a paramedical context will help them define their protocol in preparation for the week-long experiment that is scheduled for September. This experiment will involve approximately sixty participants (divided into two even groups: the first made up of individuals already familiar with this kind of artistic practices, and the second of individuals who are new to it). In order to guarantee reliable results, the protocol needs to be polished enough.
In your opinion, what are the main stakes of this residency and what do you expect out of it?
What I am most interested in, – and I am very grateful to them to provide us with this opportunity – is to be able to study a wellbeing practice from a scientific standpoint. At this time, we cannot objectively assert that sound on its own plays a part in improving health and wellbeing – an assertion that would however be needed in order to implement this practice in the field of pharmacology. For this practice and its effects to be acknowledged, we therefore need to demonstrate the mechanisms at work. There are other things I would like to find out. Is this practice more efficient in an individual or collective setting? Does sound spatialisation truly make a difference compared to traditional sophrology practices, which almost always involve a fixed and localised sound source? In short, what I am interested in is studying multisensory processing – sound moments, tactile moments, hybrid moments: how does each come into play? And can the effects be boosted if they are used simultaneously? Another interesting approach could be to break down the practice, or to consider the effects of a session on the practitioner themselves, in addition to the effects it has on the patient.
Interview conducted by Jérémie Szpirglas