Session Title: Synaesthetic and multisensory design of real and artificial environments
Virtual environments nowadays can provide excellent visual experience to a high degree of immersion. The other human senses, however, are often treated subordinately. At least, increased attention is paid to the auditory field, for which knowledge and technical skills are already available.
To achieve full immersion, however, all senses need to be included. Synaesthetic design provides methods to not only align input via various sensory channels, but also to substitute missing stimuli by attributes of the other senses. It refers to the various main strategies of the perceptual system to align sensory data towards a plausible impression of an environment, based on plausible integration of all senses.Beside optimization of design in reality, the methodology provides a toolbox essential for achievement of full multisensory immersion of artificial environments.
About
Michael Haverkamp is an expert on cross-sensory design, acoustics, and synaesthesia. Until 2018, he developed methods for cross-sensory harmonization of automotive products at the Ford Development Centre, Cologne. Born 1958 in Gütersloh, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, he focused on technical and psychological acoustics during his studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. His PhD thesis addressed the physiological influences and perceptions of vehicle vibration.
He has long-term experience in product development, acoustics and multi-sensory design, and studies of cross-modal perception, the arts and music. He has had previous teaching assignments and been invited to lectures at various universities (e.g., the Köln International School of Design, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland, University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten/Austria). He has numerous publications and presentations on sound engineering, perception, audio branding, multi-sensory design, and synaesthesia – amongst many others at conferences on synaesthesia and multi-sensory perception in Spain, Ireland, Russia, China, and Germany.
Furthermore, he contributes to arts exhibitions and music performances.
