Sound sculpting goes a long way for inclusive education

Experience the auditory festival of Sound Sculpting for Sciences, making science accessible through sound for students with disabilities.

From the most cacophonous metallic crinkle of foil papers, balloons and water cans that imagine sounds of a black hole to a simple water-filled toy chirping like a bird, the Sound Scultping for Sciences competition on Friday was nothing short of an auditory festival with ordinary objects.

As part of the Extended Reality (XR) project created by The Accessibility Research Centre (ARC), IIT Madras in association with Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre (TNSTC), the students with disabilities can now experience science through sound and sensory learning at the Periyar Science & Technology Centre all year long.

But what is sound sculpting anyway? Think of it as a painting, but with sounds instead of shades. The idea is to capture emotions, experiences, objects using nothing but sound. “We have students from Chennai schools who recreate a dolphin’s call using only a door. It is about explaining concepts in science using everyday objects,” says Subisha K.R., a research associate at ARC.

This art of sculpting sounds goes a long way, especially for students and persons with disabilities. “Many visually impaired students end up in arts, literature, or humanities not necessarily because of passion, but because they are often denied admission into STEM fields,” Deepa Kiran, a storyteller in the sound sculpting space points out. “Science teaching has not been equipped for all, and so, sound sculpting which makes you interpret concepts better, is one such attempt to break the boundaries,” adds she.

In Ms Kiran’s storytelling session, she uses instruments like the ocean drum to recreate crashing waves, the Thai flute to add an emotional depth, a Bengali folk instrument ‘Dotara’ for that dramatic pizazz, while creating sound more intuitively. “There is more awareness today in making education accessible for all, and sound sculpting where you sculpt an audio image is becoming a strong element in the educational space for visually impaired students,” she says.

Well, for the artistes judging the competition for students, this was a first of its kind experience. And while sound sculpting seems niche, it is booming in the film industry and theatre performances too. “Using the sounds of hairbrushes, crushed paper and water cans to explain physics concepts seemed great,” says Ashutosh Phatak, co-founder of True School of Music and Blue Frog. “It is a hands-on way to understand the physics of the sound,” he says.