Xiao Xiao, Director of the Institute for Future Technologies (IFT) at De Vinci Higher Education, is a co-author of Sonic Portal: Designing Interactive Soundscapes for Shared Memory and Community
Connection, published in the peer-reviewed proceedings of ACM DIS 2026. Drawing on memories contributed by current and former MIT Media Lab members, the study examines how interactive soundscapes can evoke personal experiences and connections within a shared community.
The project combines a navigable virtual environment, ambient sounds and spoken narratives to investigate how people remember a place and relate to others who have occupied it.
Sound as a Material for Interaction Design
Digital representations of physical spaces frequently prioritise their visual appearance. Sonic Portal examines what happens when sound becomes part of the experience: how might an acoustic environment affect someone’s relationship with a place, its history and its community?
The research addresses three aspects of this relationship: autobiographical memory, attachment to a place and social connection. Autobiographical memory refers to the recollection of personal experiences, while place attachment concerns the emotional relationship people develop with a particular setting.
The prototype brings these questions into a three-dimensional environment that users can navigate. Sounds are tied to specific locations, so moving through the space includes both its appearance and the memories linked to it.
Collecting Sonic Memories from the MIT Media Lab
The project began with participatory workshops involving members of the MIT Media Lab community. Current and former occupants contributed sonic memories tied to their experiences in the laboratory.
This process placed participants’ recollections at the centre of the design. The researchers collected meaningful sounds and connected them to corresponding locations within the virtual environment. Ambient audio and spoken narratives offered different ways to represent the relationship between a place and the people who had used it.
The contributions also introduced a temporal dimension. Community members may share the same physical setting while experiencing it at different times. Sonic Portal investigates how their memories can coexist within a digital representation, making experiences from different generations accessible through sound.
Comparing Visual and Audiovisual Experiences
Following the workshops, the researchers evaluated the prototype through a controlled study. One condition offered visual-only interaction; the other combined visual interaction with sound.
The evaluation used quantitative measures to assess participants’ autobiographical memory experiences, attachment to the place and feelings of social connection. Qualitative accounts added detail about how participants experienced the environment and interpreted its sounds.
This combination of methods connected measured responses with descriptions of the experience. It allowed the researchers to examine both differences between the conditions and how participants understood the relationship between audio, memory, and shared space.
Emotional Engagement and Shared Presence
The results associated audiovisual interaction with stronger emotional engagement and perceived connection. Participants’ qualitative accounts also described how everyday sounds supported a feeling of shared presence and continuity between people who had occupied the space at different times.
The findings concern the evaluated prototype and its community context. They provide material for further investigation into how designers can represent the lived experience of a place through sound.
For Sonic Portal, the research question extends beyond recognising a location. It concerns how a familiar acoustic environment can evoke personal recollections while making other community members’ experiences perceptible.
A Publication Connecting IFT, MIT and Oxford
The paper brings together Alaa Algargoosh, Hayoun Noh, Lucy Li, Xiao Xiao and Professor Hiroshi Ishii. The collaboration includes researchers from the MIT Media Lab, the University of Oxford, and IFT.
Xiao Xiao’s contribution adds to the human–computer interaction research covered by ESILV, where studies examine relationships between technology, perception and human experience.
The Sonic Portal paper details the participatory workshops, prototype and evaluation methods used to examine these connections. Further information on research and educational activities is available through the Institute for Future Technologies.
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