Somatic Echo

Juri Hwang presents an experimental sound and research project that connects the human body directly to a sound resource via interfaces. In her work, the body itself becomes the receiving medium of sound.

The project Somatic Echo uses bone conducted sound as a method to study human perception and to create an unusual and mesmerizing aesthetic. The experience of the listener is acoustically imaginary shaped by the sound which flows through the head structure and vibrations that act on the skin, complemented by a completely new perceptive medium. Consisting of a recliner, a sound mask and an 8- channel sound composition, which is implemented by 8 transducers on the user’s head, the listener receives a 6- channel sound experience, which is reflected in the face and back of the head.

The sound transducers transmit sound directly to the inner ear via the bone structure of the skull. The performance bypasses the normal hearing process by not directly stimulating the outer ears.

This structure allows the perception of sound through auditory and tactile senses and forms a bidirectional connection of body and sound.

Somatic Echo analyzes the physiological and psychophysical aspects of three- dimensional sound perception and the experience field of sound perception. The sound composition also exhausts the merging of interior and exterior in a subversive way.