Voiceprints

Voiceprints is an experiment in the translation of audio information to visual imagery. Artist Pierre Proske records a person’s voice into a microphone, analyzes the audio file for frequency content, loops the sample, and then generates a variety of textile patterns arranged according to the individual’s vocal frequency imprint.

The basic acoustic unit in human speech is called a phoneme. The visual equivalent is called a “viseme,” a basic speech unit in the visual domain. Interested in the audio to visual translation, Proske developed software that describes sound using basic visual units to represent recorded frequencies.

Proske reminds us that the use of computing in textile design is nothing new. Woven textiles actually form part of computing history, through Joseph Marie Jacquard’s automated patterned textile weaving machine in 1804 which led to the use of punch cards in computing devices.

Contact: Pierre Proske, Melbourne, Australia.