Search Results (14)

Network Music Performance (NMP) refers to network-based remote collaboration when applied to music performances, such as musical education, music production and live music concerts. In NMP, the most important parameter for the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the participants is low end-to-end audio delay. Increasing delays prevent musicians’ synchronization and lead to a suboptimal musical experience. Visual contact between the participants is also crucial for their experience but highly demanding in terms of bandwidth. Since audio compression induces additional coding and decoding delays on the signal path, most NMP systems rely on audio quality reduction when bandwidth is limited to avoid violating the stringent delay limitations of NMP. To assess the delay and quality tolerance limits for NMP and see if they can be satisfied by emerging 5G networks, we asked eleven pairs of musicians to perform musical pieces of their choice in a carefully controlled laboratory environment, which allowed us to set different end-to-end delays or audio sampling rates. To assess the QoE of these NMP sessions, each musician responded to a set of questions after each performance. The analysis of the musicians’ responses revealed that actual musicians in delay-controlled NMP scenarios can synchronize at delays of up to 40 ms, compared to the 25–30 ms reported in rhythmic hand-clapping experiments. Our analysis also shows that audio quality can be considerably reduced by sub-sampling, so as to save bandwidth without significant QoE loss. Finally, we find that musicians rely more on audio and less on video to synchronize during an NMP session. These results indicate that NMP can become feasible in advanced 5G networks. Full article

Exploratory listening encompasses the various ways, contexts, and levels of attention with which listeners engage with their sonic environment. This paper presents findings from qualitative research conducted with audience members during the Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons concert tour. During these events, attendees encountered music from the widely successful indie video game, reorchestrated in a new context. Just as the game encourages exploration through open-ended gameplay, the concerts prompt listeners to explore how the rearranged music refers to and diverges from its use in the game. Findings suggest that attendees deployed their attention to divergent aspects of the music. While some attendees focused on specific musical aspects like recognizable melodies and instrumentation, others focused on the broader audiovisual and community aspects of the performance. Results also indicate that highly immersed listeners experience diverse thoughts, including those not directly about the immediate musical content. Positioning music-evoked imaginings as a way listeners become immersed in musical experiences, we report on how exploratory listening shapes the dynamics of attention, immersion, and enjoyment within musical and audiovisual contexts. Full article

Traditional broadcasting methods often result in fatigue and decision-making errors when dealing with complex and diverse live content. Current research on intelligent broadcasting primarily relies on preset rules and model-based decisions, which have limited capabilities for understanding emotional dynamics. To address these issues, this study proposed and developed an emotion-driven intelligent broadcasting system, EmotionCast, to enhance the efficiency of camera switching during live broadcasts through decisions based on multimodal emotion recognition technology. Initially, the system employs sensing technologies to collect real-time video and audio data from multiple cameras, utilizing deep learning algorithms to analyze facial expressions and vocal tone cues for emotion detection. Subsequently, the visual, audio, and textual analyses were integrated to generate an emotional score for each camera. Finally, the score for each camera shot at the current time point was calculated by combining the current emotion score with the optimal scores from the preceding time window. This approach ensured optimal camera switching, thereby enabling swift responses to emotional changes. EmotionCast can be applied in various sensing environments such as sports events, concerts, and large-scale performances. The experimental results demonstrate that EmotionCast excels in switching accuracy, emotional resonance, and audience satisfaction, significantly enhancing emotional engagement compared to traditional broadcasting methods. Full article

Most airport surface surveillance systems focus on monitoring and commanding cooperative objects (vehicles) while neglecting the location and detection of non-cooperative objects (humans). Abnormal behavior by non-cooperative objects poses a potential threat to airport security. This study collects surveillance video data from civil aviation airports in several regions of China, and a non-cooperative abnormal behavior localization and detection framework (NC-ABLD) is established. As the focus of this paper, the proposed framework seamlessly integrates a multi-scale non-cooperative object localization module, a human keypoint detection module, and a behavioral classification module. The framework uses a serial structure, with multiple modules working in concert to achieve precise position, human keypoints, and behavioral classification of non-cooperative objects in the airport field. In addition, since there is no publicly available rich dataset of airport aprons, we propose a dataset called IIAR-30, which consists of 1736 images of airport surfaces and 506 video clips in six frequently occurring behavioral categories. The results of experiments conducted on the IIAR-30 dataset show that the framework performs well compared to mainstream behavior recognition methods and achieves fine-grained localization and refined class detection of typical non-cooperative human abnormal behavior on airport apron surfaces. Full article

The use of augmented reality (AR) is the only meaningful way towards the creation and integration of information into a cultural (and not only) analogue leaflet, flyer and poster, which by their nature have limited informational material. The enrichment of information, which an analogue leaflet has, with additional descriptive information (text), multimedia (image, video, sound), 3-D models, etc., gives the end recipient/user a unique experience of approaching and understanding a music event, for example. The Digi-Orch is a research project that aims to create smart printed communication materials (e.g., posters, concert programme booklets) and an accompanying AR application to provide this enhanced audience experience to classical music lovers. The paper presents the ways in which AR can extend and enrich an analogue leaflet/flyer/poster, the features of and how to use the developed AR application, as well as the components, architecture and functions of the system. It also presents the different versions of the AR application within the project, starting with the laboratory versions, continuing with the pilot versions in real conditions (music events) and reaching the final prototype and the educational version of the AR application. Full article

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of vibrotactile concert furniture, aiming to improve the live music experience of people with hearing loss using hearing technology such as cochlear implants (CI). The system was the result of a series of participatory design sessions involving CI users with different hearing assistive setups (bi-implant, bimodal, and monoimplant), and it was evaluated in a concert scenario (drums, bass, and female vocals) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The project aimed to improve the music appreciation for CI users by providing a multisensory concert designed with CI challenges in mind, but not excluding normal-hearing individuals or individuals with other forms of hearing aids from participating in the event. The evaluation was based on (video-recorded) observations and postexperience semistructured interviews; the data were analyzed using event analysis and meaning condensation. The results indicate that tactile augmentation provides a pleasant experience for CI users. However, concertgoers with residual hearing reported being overwhelmed if the tactile stimulation amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. Furthermore, devices that highlight instrument segregation are preferred over ones that present a tactile mixdown of multiple auditory streams. Full article

In addition to traditional viewing media, metadata that record the physical space from multiple perspectives will become extremely important in realizing interactive applications such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). This paper proposes the Software Defined Media (SDM) Ontology designed to describe spatio-temporal media and the systems that handle them comprehensively. Spatio-temporal media refers to video, audio, and various sensor values recorded together with time and location information. The SDM Ontology can flexibly and precisely represent spatio-temporal media, equipment, and functions that record, process, edit, and play them, as well as related semantic information. In addition, we recorded classical and jazz concerts using many video cameras and audio microphones, and then processed and edited the video and audio data with related metadata. Then, we created a dataset using the SDM Ontology and published it as linked open data (LOD). Furthermore, we developed “Web${360}^2$”, an application that enables users to interactively view and experience ${360}^{\circ }$ video and spatial acoustic sounds by referring to this dataset. We conducted a subjective evaluation by using a user questionnaire. Web${360}^2$ is a data-driven web application that obtains video and audio data and related metadata by querying the dataset. Full article

Background and Objectives: As the number of minimally invasive surgeries, including video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, increases, small, deeply located lung nodules are difficult to visualize or palpate; therefore, localization is important. We studied the use of a mixture of indigo—carmine and lipiodol, coupled with a transbronchial approach—to achieve accurate localization and minimize patient discomfort and complications. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients were enrolled from May 2019 to April 2022, and surgery was performed after the bronchoscopy procedure. Wedge resection or segmentectomy was performed, depending on the location and size of the lesion. Results: In 58/60 (96.7%) patients, the localization of the nodules was successful after localization, and 2/60 required c-arm assistance. None of the patients complained of discomfort during the procedure; in all cases, margins were found to be free from carcinoma, as determined by the final pathology results. Conclusions: We recommend this localization technique using mixture of indigo carmine and lipiodol, in concert with the transbronchial approach, because the procedure time is short, patient’s discomfort is low, and success rate is high. Full article

This study analyzed the characteristics of pitched baseballs from TV broadcast videos to understand the effects of the Magnus force on a pitched-baseball trajectory using aerodynamic theory. Furthermore, an automatic measurement and analysis system for pitched-baseball trajectories, ball speeds, and spin rates was established, capturing the trajectory of the baseball thrown by the pitcher before the catcher catches it and analyzing its related dynamic parameters. The system consists of two parts: (1) capturing and detecting the pitched baseball in all frames of the video using the YOLOv3-tiny deep learning algorithm and automatically recording the coordinates of each detected baseball position; (2) automatically calculating the average speed and spin rate of the pitched baseball using aerodynamic theory. As the baseball thrown by the pitcher is fast, and live-action TV videos like sports and concerts are typically at least 24 fps or more, this study used YOLOv3-tiny algorithm to speed up the calculation. Finally, the system automatically presented pitching data on the screen, and the pitching information in the baseball game was easily obtained and recorded for further discussion. The system was tested using 30 videos of pitched baseballs and could effectively capture the baseball trajectories, throw points, catch points, and vertical displacements. Compared with the values from the TV broadcast, the average errors on the calculated ball speed and spin rate were 1.88% and 7.51%, respectively. Using the ratio of the spin rate and ball speed as a parameter to analyze the pitching state of the pitcher’s four-seam fastball in the Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball matches, it was observed that when this ratio increased, the Magnus displacement of the ball increased, thereby decreasing its late break. Therefore, the developed system provides scientific pitching data to improve the performance of baseball pitchers. Full article

Nowadays, there are a plethora of services that are provided and paid for online, such as video streaming subscriptions, car-share, vehicle parking, purchasing tickets for events, etc. Online services usually issue tokens that are directly related to the identities of their users after they sign up to a platform; users need to authenticate themselves by using the same credentials each time they use the service. Likewise, when using in-person services, such as going to a concert, after paying for this service, the user usually receives a ticket, which proves that he/she has the right to use that service. In both scenarios, the main concerns surround the centralization of these systems and that they do not ensure customers’ privacy. The involved service providers are trusted third parties—authorities that offer services and handle private data about users. In this paper, we designed and implemented FORT, a decentralized system that allows customers to prove their rights to use specific services (either online or in-person) without revealing sensitive information. To achieve decentralization, we proposed a solution where all of the data are handled by a blockchain. We describe and uniquely identify users’ rights using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and possession of these rights is demonstrated by using zero-knowledge proofs—cryptographic primitives that allow us to guarantee customers’ privacy. Furthermore, we provide benchmarks of FORT, which show that our protocol is efficient enough to be used in devices with low computing resources, such as smartphones or smartwatches, which are devices commonly used in our use case scenario. Full article

Background: In the midst of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, music therapists previously not involved in telehealth had to develop effective remote forms of music therapy. The objective of this review was to systematically explore how music therapists previously working in-person adapted to the transfer to remote forms of therapy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. Methods: We searched Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, Medline, ProQuest Central, PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and PsyARTICLES, grey literature (to October 2020), and websites of professional organizations. We followed the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Results: Out of the 194 screened texts, we included ten very heterogeneous articles with an overall very low quality. Most texts described remote therapy in the form of synchronous video calls using the Internet, one paper described a concert in a patio of a residential home. We report the authors’ experience with the adaptation and activities, challenges and benefits of remote forms of therapy, recommendations of organizations, and examples and tips for online therapies. Conclusions: Music therapists have adapted the musical instruments, the hours, the technology used, the therapeutic goals, the way they prepared their clients for sessions, and other aspects. They needed to be more flexible, consult with colleagues more often, and mind the client-therapist relationship’s boundaries. It seems, when taken as a necessary short-term measure, online music therapy works sufficiently well. The majority of papers stated that benefits outweighed the challenges, although many benefits were directly linked with the pandemic context. Full article

Electrokinetic displays are among the most important display technologies because of their low power consumption, wide viewing angle, and outdoor readability. As a result, they are regarded as excellent candidates for electronic paper. These types of displays are based on the controlled movement of charged pigment particles in a non-polar liquid under the influence of an electric field. Free charges practically do not exist in nonpolar colloids due to their low dielectric constant. However, the addition of a surfactant to non-polar colloids often leads to considerable charge-induced effects, such as increased electrical conductivity and particle stabilization. In this project, we aim to develop a novel electrokinetically driven display. An unprecedented display device is proposed, based on the concerted action of electro-osmosis and electrophoresis in a non-polar fluid. This method could reduce the switching time required to display information, and extend the applications of electrokinetic displays, enabling increased video speed and full color in the future. Full article

Traditional booths where sensory evaluation usually takes place are highly controlled and therefore have limited ecological validity. Since virtual reality (VR) is substantially interactive and engaging, it has the potential to be applied in sensory science. In this preliminary study, three chocolate types (milk, white, and dark) were evaluated under three contextual settings, including sensory booths (control) and two VR environments (360-degree videos using VR headsets: (i) a pleasant sightseeing tour, and (ii) a live music concert). Untrained participants (n = 67) were asked to rate their liking and the intensity of different chocolate attributes based on the 9-point hedonic scale and just-about-right-scale (JAR). Emotions were evaluated using the check-all-that-apply (CATA) method. Results showed that there were no significant effects of context type on the tasting experience; however, there were significant effects of chocolate type. Milk and white chocolates were preferred over dark chocolate irrespective of the context type. Additionally, more positive emotions were elicited for the dark chocolate in the “virtual live concert” environment. Dark chocolate under the other two environments was associated with negative emotional terms, such as “bored” and “worried.” In terms of more reliable and ecologically valid sensory responses, further research is needed to match suitable VR environments to different chocolate types. Full article

This article tackles a well-known but little-studied phenomenon: the importance of Holocaust themes to heavy metal. The fascination of metal bands with evil and death has until recently been met outside the scene with such reactions as moral panic, disgust or indifference. In the last ten years, however, scholars in an emerging discourse of Metal Studies have attempted to engage more critically with the social and musical dimensions of metal, in order to contextualise and understand its lyrics and imagery. Although a number of writers have touched upon the recurrence of Holocaust imagery, no one has dealt at any length with extreme metal as a form of Holocaust memory. My article focuses on what might be called the founding text of extreme metal, Slayer’s ‘Angel of Death’, which lived up to the sub-genre’s name by pushing both its musical form and its lyrical content beyond previously maintained limits and taboos. It considers the song’s mobilisation of affective intensities as involving problematic politics, but also a challenge to conceptions of Holocaust representation. I consider how affects are evoked by ‘Angel of Death’ through offering readings of the song itself as well as of ways that its reception have been recorded on social media, in concert videos, and reaction videos uploaded to YouTube. Full article