College spaces such as classrooms, libraries, study areas, cafés and social spaces have very different soundscapes. These acoustic environments may influence how students experience and use these spaces, including their concentration, comfort and perceived stress.
This project will investigate how sensor technologies can be used to characterise the soundscapes of different college spaces and explore their relationship with student experience.
The project will involve designing a small-scale sensing system to collect environmental acoustic data, analysing differences between spaces and times of day, and combining sensor data with student feedback. The student will explore appropriate data-analysis and visualisation techniques to identify patterns and relationships.
The project will consider privacy-preserving sensing, avoiding the collection or storage of identifiable conversations.
Key Areas:
- Sensor and IoT technologies
- Soundscape and environmental sensing
- Data analysis and visualisation
- Human-centred computing
- Student experience and learning environments
- Privacy-aware technology
Potential Outcome:
A prototype system and analysis demonstrating how sensor data can be used to understand differences in college soundscapes and their potential relationship with students’ experiences of different campus spaces.