We Are Looking for Participants
We are looking for participants to help trial our new virtual reality tool for urban sound planning. This experience is designed specifically for people who have little-to-no experience with sound planning. Your feedback is critical for helping us identify new ways that we can work together to improve people's experiences in cities.
For this, we are looking for anyone with training and experience in any aspect of city planning.
Desktop Demo
An older desktop demo of the software can be viewed below. However, you will be trying out our newer head-mounted virtual reality version with new, easy to use controls and lessons! You'll learn to both navigate and manipulate the urban soundscape in many different ways.
Trial Details
The experience will take approximately 2 hours and you will receive $25 for your time. Your help would be greatly appreciated! This research is being conducted at McGill University.
Interested?
Please contact me at Richard.Yanaky@mail.mcgill.ca after reading the eligibility requirements, below.
Full Details
I am a PhD Candidate at McGill University in the Sounds in the City group. We are conducting research on sound-planning tools for professionals of the built environment to help them plan for better sounding urban environments. Indeed, research has shown that sound planning can provide many benefits, such as promoting public space utilization, fostering social interactions, and promoting stress recovery. Yet there are no simple sound planning tools to integrate sound consideration in urban projects.
We are currently looking for participants to help trial this tool and gather feedback on their experience and future needs. Through this study, I will investigate what type of features professionals of the built environment would require to help integrate sound planning into their own workflow. To this end, we are seeking a diverse population of professionals of the built environment (e.g., urban planners, urban designers, landscape architects) from both the public and private sector, and of varying degrees of experience and responsibilities – from senior management, to students in their final year of a related degree program. Through this diversity, we hope to get a better idea of the different form that such sound-planning tools should take.
This process will take approximately 2 hours of your time to participate in a one-on-one trial with this software, followed by an interview. We are not interested in evaluating the quality or merits of your designs and plans, nor will I attempt any such analysis; rather, we seek to better understand how to support you in your future sound-related design challenges. You will receive $25 as compensation for your time.
Eligibility
Participants must be age 18+ with normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing to operate the equipment, and minimally in their final year of a related degree program. Also please note that although this is a gentle VR experience, if you are known to be prone to vertigo, VR sickness, or any other conditions that may result in potential VR side-effects, you will be ineligible for this study.
Note on prescription glasses
Although the headset can accommodate small glasses, larger prescription glasses may not fit, resulting in the inability to participate, as the VR set must be secured tightly around your head. If you have contacts or a smaller pair of glasses, please bring those as you will be required to read instructions in the VR experience.
Booking a session
Please contact me at Richard.Yanaky@mail.mcgill.ca if you are interested! I can work around your schedule, including early mornings, evenings, or weekends.