The Audible Universe project aims to create dialogue between two scientific domains investigating two distinct research objects: stars and sound. It has been instantiated within a collaborative workshop that began to mutually acculturate the two communities, by sharing and transmitting respective knowledge, skills and practices. One main outcome of this exchange was a global view on the astronomical data sonification paradigm for observing the diversity of tools, uses and users (including visually impaired people), but also the current limitations and potential methods of improvement. From this viewpoint, here we present basic elements gathered and contextualized by sound experts in their respective fields (sound perception/cognition, sound design, psychoacoustics, experimental psychology), to anchor sonification for astronomy in a more well informed, methodological and creative process.

Sound-driven design is a design practice informed by technology and listening in the multisensory dimension of interaction. An automated content analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews with sound designers, design researchers, engineers and expert users stressed the inherently embodied and situated conceptualisation of sound, and how it relates to their professional activity. The four categories of professionals bring in different designerly orientations towards sound. Listening, as a way of knowing by using sound in interaction, proves to be the red thread between the participants’ semantic models. Overall, the findings contribute to characterise the concept of sound in current design practices, and position the role of nonverbal, yet auditory representations in the design process.

Sound-driven design is an emerging, human-centered design practice informed by technology and listening in the multisensory dimension of interaction. In this paper we present a discourse analysis approach aimed at qualitatively understanding the constituent concepts of such a practice, by means of semi-structured interviews with sound designers, design researchers, engineers and expert users in the context of critical care. Preliminary results show that sound-driven design is inherently embodied, situated, and participatory, that the four categories of interviewees equally contribute to the definition of the design problem, and yet that a clear, shared arena is still missing.