Sounds of Taipei is an immersive project that allows audiences to explore the urban soundscapes of Taipei in an innovative manner.
For Sounds of Taipei, we designed an immersive user experience that allows audiences to explore Taipei's urban soundscapes in an innovative and engaging manner. We, Johanna Komesker, Mona Ruppert, Patrick Schneider, and Donatus Wolf, are four students from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam on exchange at the National Taipei University of Technology. At the outset of the semester, our class, guided by Prof. Wang, was challenged to experience our environment in a novel way. Tasked with collecting sounds across the city, we chose to visualize them through an interactive website. This platform displayed a map of Taipei, allowing users to listen to the collected sounds and view their specific locations. We categorized the sounds into three distinct types and implemented a day and night mode to show when the sounds were recorded, enhanced by photos to provide additional context.
As the project evolved, Prof. Wang encouraged us to present our work at a soundscape conference, which motivated us to push the boundaries beyond the initial website. We developed a sophisticated VR soundscape experience that enabled users to explore Taipei through 360° videos, providing an immersive journey that brought the sounds of the city to life in a more profound way. Additionally, we integrated a gamified sound-matching feature, inviting users to guess the environment based on sound alone—enhancing engagement and promoting curiosity.
The project culminated with our presentation at the Soundscape Conference of the International Symposium on Grids & Clouds 2019 (ISGC 2019), where it received significant attention and praise. Among the attendees was Prof. Bryan Pijanowski, who expressed interest in a potential collaboration if we further developed the concept. By focusing on intuitive navigation and rich multimedia integration, I ensured that users could fully immerse themselves in Taipei's vibrant soundscapes, effectively capturing the essence of the city's unique auditory atmosphere.
