Spatial Sound Does Not Exist: Toward a Contextual Model of Spatial Meaning Making

Drawing on phenomenology, predictive perception, and scenographic practice, this paper redefines spatialization as the staging of perceptual and contextual conditions through which space becomes intelligible in experience. Two conceptual tools are introduced. The spatial aggregate models spatial perception as a composite of exophenomenal evidence and endophenomenal contribution within crossmodal integration. The contextual model of spatial meaning-making specifies four adjacent contexts—material, aesthetic, personal, and sociocultural—through which spatial meaning circulates as an interpretative process. Together, these tools shift attention in spatial design from format and coordinate mapping toward perception, interpretation, and meaning. Although the analysis is not limited to any single sensory modality, examples focus on sound for concreteness. The contribution is both conceptual and practical: a perceptually grounded framework that helps designers, researchers, and technologists understand how spatial meaning becomes available in experience across media, formats, and disciplines.