Soundscape fiction: designing and situating sonic design fiction to stimulate the imagination
Wei-Ming Chung, Wenn-Chieh Tsai, Rung‐Huei Liang, MengChi Liu, Bowen Kong, Yin Huang, Fu-Chieh Chang · Digital Creativity · 2024
Experiential intervention in design fiction has been an effective approach to stimulating imagination through visual or textual materials. However, the potential of design fiction to create auditory experiences that encourage listeners to immerse themselves in imagined worlds remains largely unexplored. This paper introduces Soundscape Fiction, a four-layer audio composition for stimulating experiential imagination. We explored its temporal form through audio mixing, framed a design space for each layer using a tangible Soundscape Mixer, and developed research artifacts called Quartet Tubes to enable users to incorporate Soundscape Fiction into their daily lives. We present participants’ experiences of using Quartet Tubes in everyday settings, demonstrating how situated listening, as a form of speculative engagement, can shape personal realities. The research contributes to the experience-centered approach of practical design fiction by illustrating a research-through-design process for creating imaginative auditory experiences. It concludes with design considerations for future exploration of experiential intervention in auditory imagination.