Benjamin O’Brien

Bio: Benjamin O’Brien (PhD) is a researcher and composer working in the interdisciplinary fields of psychoacoustics, human movement, and language processing. His research centers on auditory processing of sonification, voice perception, and speech pathology. He holds degrees in composition, mechanical and physical engineering, and mathematics from the University of Florida (PhD), Aix-Marseille University (MS), Mills College (MA), and the University of Virginia (BA). He has held research positions at the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (UMR 7287) and Laboratoire Parole et Langage (UMR 7309). He currently lives in Marseille, where he is a post-doctorate researcher at the Laboratoire Informatique d’Avignon (LIA, Université d’Avignon) and a member of the Big Band du CNRS.

« Sonification and speech: recent research on auditory feedback based on human movement »
The auditory feedback based on human movements and manipulations happens routinely in our daily lives: from speaking on the phone to playing a musical instrument; from hearing a helicopter in the sky to parking a car in the street. More complex forms of analysis and production of auditory feedback have the potential to influence a myriad of human processes, however, any effects are constrained to key factors such as the contexts of their display and the experiences of their actors. A principal interest in my research has focused on how specialised individuals, such as athletes, pilots, and people with speech pathologies, use or produce auditory feedback based on human movement. In this seminar I will present findings on research conducted at ISM, LPL, and LIA.