Background story

With a background in electrical computer and engineering, I am always excited about how science and engineering could give answers to unanswered questions and help me better understand myself and the world around me instead of just accepting the way it is. I wish to demonstrate either the groundbreaking discoveries or the omnipresent phenomenon which has been presented or published in academic fields to the general public with more straightforward language and engaging experience.

The initial idea of this project, disequilibrium room originated from my interest in accessibility education to the general public. I came across the research that Dr.Anat was conducting aiming to help rehabilitate the physical coordinate ability of people with malfunctional hearing problems when I was seeking for potential opportunities and venues to transform a serious research to a more engaging museum experience.

I reached out to Dr. Anat Lubetzky, the assistant professor of physical therapy and Prof. Agnieszka Roginska, the vice chair and associate professor of music technology music and performing arts professions at the New York University to obtain professional guidance on interpretating the research as well as the technical advice. Cooperating with my @Tracey Shi, We designed and built the Disequilibrium room to allow audiences to discern the body balance adjustment under different degrees of impaired hearing.

Abstract

The project is based upon assistant professor of physical therapyphysical therapy Dr. Anat Lubetzky and vice chair, music associate professor of music technology music and performing arts professions Prof. Agnieszka Roginska's research research in the simulation and applications of immersive and 3D audio including the capture, analysis and synthesis of auditory environments, auditory displays and its applications in augmented acoustic sensing. Based on the research, we designed a sound and visual interactive space to demonstrate the how impaired hearing could affect the body balance.

Research/Context

Dr. Anat and Prof. Agnieszka Roginska's research in utilizing advances in virtual reality technology to study multi-sensory integration for postural control in adults with and without vestibular dysfunction and hearing loss across the life span.

Design Sketch

Prototyping

We first prototyped the shape, size and amount of "stones" with cardboards to do quikly estimations. We wanted the "stones" to be a bit level-up and bouncy, so after a series of material experiments, we finally settled with hard foams. This kind of material was easy to cut and shape while it maintained a bit soft resilience.

Installation and development

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