The artistic role of the sound engineer in immersive spatialisation. Investigation of the influence of space in the emotional interpretation of sounds

Frigo L. The artistic role of the sound engineer in immersive spatialisation. Investigation of the influence of space in the emotional interpretation of sounds. In: Express Paper. Audio Engineering Society; 2026.pp. 419:1-. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23254

@inproceedings{Frigo2026_23254,
  author = {Frigo, Luca},
  title = {{The artistic role of the sound engineer in immersive spatialisation. Investigation of the influence of space in the emotional interpretation of sounds}},
  pages = {419:1-},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - The artistic role of the sound engineer in immersive spatialisation. Investigation of the influence of space in the emotional interpretation of sounds
AU  - Frigo, Luca
SP  - 1
M1  - Paper 419
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23254
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - This paper presents a perceptual experiment designed to investigate whether the spatial position of a sound source in an immersive reproduction system influences the listeners emotional response. The study is part of an artistic research doctorate examining the role of the sound engineer as a creative agent in immersive music production. Thirteen non-musical stimuli drawn from three categories (human-generated, environmental, synthetic sounds) are presented at six spatial positions distributed across a full listening sphere, including upper and lower layers, within a 16-loudspeaker HOA system (4+8+4 layout) decoded using third-order Ambisonics. Emotional responses are collected using a valence-arousal rating scale after each stimulus presentation. Two main hypotheses are tested: that spatial position significantly affects emotional response (H1), and that this effect differs across stimulus categories (H2). Statistical analysis will employ repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni correction. The experiment is currently in its final design phase; this paper presents the methodology and expected outcomes, inviting feedback from the research community.
ER  -