Bidirectional Interactions With Humpback Whale Singer Using Concrete Sound Elements

• Published in: Frontiers in Psychology
• Main Authors: Pénitot, Aline, Schwarz, Diemo, Nguyen Hong Duc, Paul, Cazau, Dorian, Adam, Olivier
• Other Authors: Compagnie Ondas, Interaction Son Musique Mouvement, Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son (STMS), Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (DALEMBERT), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Equipe Observations Signal & Environnement (Lab-STICC_OSE), Laboratoire des sciences et techniques de l'information, de la communication et de la connaissance (Lab-STICC), École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne (ENSTA Bretagne)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bretagne Loire (UBL)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne (ENSTA Bretagne)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bretagne Loire (UBL)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT), École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne (ENSTA Bretagne), Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI), Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: humpback whale song; bassoon; interactions; music interface; musique concrete; [SPI.ACOU]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Acoustics [physics.class-ph]; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-BIO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Biological Physics [physics.bio-ph]; [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; [SHS.MUSIQ]Humanities and Social Sciences/Musicology and performing arts; Humpback Whale
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03290337; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03290337/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03290337/file/fpsyg-12-654314.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.654314

International audience We describe an art–science project called “Feral Interactions—The Answer of the Humpback Whale” inspired by humpback whale songs and interactions between individuals based on mutual influences, learning process, or ranking in the dominance hierarchy. The aim was to build new sounds that can be used to initiate acoustic interactions with these whales, not in a one-way direction, as playbacks do, but in real interspecies exchanges. Thus, we investigated how the humpback whales generate sounds in order to better understand their abilities and limits. By carefully listening to their emitted vocalizations, we also describe their acoustic features and temporal structure, in a scientific way and also with a musical approach as it is done with musique concrète , in order to specify the types and the morphologies of whale sounds. The idea is to highlight the most precise information to generate our own sounds that will be suggested to the whales. Based on the approach developed in musique concrète , similarities with the sounds produced by bassoon were identified and then were processed to become “concrete sound elements.” This analysis also brought us to design a new music interface that allows us to create adapted musical phrases in real-time. With this approach, interactions will be possible in both directions, from and to whales.