Psychoacoustics of Sound Reproduction in Art Exhibits

A study was conducted to understand how psychoacoustics can play a role in music “listening”, particular in a small arts gallery. As the appreciation of a recorded audio of an exhibit can interfere with its adjacent exhibits, it is often very difficult to isolate individual exhibit’s audio display without extensive sound abatement or control measures especially in the low frequencies range. In our study, high-frequency audio is extracted and played through small speakers while its low-frequency component is channelled to a vibration shaker mounted beneath a standing false flooring located in front of the exhibit. By making use of haptics in vibrotactile and psychoacoustics, a person standing on the false flooring is still able to “hear” and perceive the broad frequency spectrum without losing much listening pleasure. The location of the shaker on the false flooring is optimised through vibration measurements for maximum vibrational amplitude response.