Tasked with making observations and gathering data for two DIG 210 classes, February 3rd and 5th, I sought to try something unconventional. Rather than focus on visible characteristic(s), I thought I might gather data about the auditory aspect of our class. Given that we exchange knowledge in our class primary over the medium of sound, through our voices, I thought it might be interesting to transpose the sound waves that reverberated through Studio D of the Davidson library from 1:40pm to 2:55pm on those two days into a static 2D image that we can view and make observations about.
There are several limitations to this method of observation. One is the fact that my computer’s microphone was the sole conduit for generating data; being in one place and not designed with high-fidelity audio capture in mind, the data that my computer generates are limited in accuracy. Sounds that I or others at my table made register more prominently than equally loud sounds made by others. These data paint a picture from the vantage point of my computer, which on both occasions I tried to position as close to the center of the room as possible. Finally, my skills in audio analysis are extremely limited; with more expertise and better software, I would be able to provide many more statistics that might allow us to glean more information from these data.
The blue lines vertically indicate amplitude of the sound waves over the horizontal axis of time. We notice by comparing the two that the February 5th class was, on average, louder than the February 3rd class – given that a guest speaker spoke to the class through many speakers on the 5th, whereas Dr. Sample primarily lectured using only his vocal cords on the 3rd, this makes sense. We notice in both graphs more peaks toward the end of the class as opposed to the beginning, which could be the result of many factors – perhaps the conversation becomes more heated and interesting when the class is more involved in the material?
Note: I have chosen to not make the actual sound files available for a variety of reasons.