Sonic Movement: the perception of movement through sound as a case of multimodality integration in Spatial Audio Composition

Abstract This article explores the concept of sonic movement, a term that indicates the perception of movement experienced through sound. Developing a comparison between movement created through sound and movement created by bodies in a dance choreography, the author examines three case studies that experiment with the integration of media, sound, visuals, staging and performance design. It is argued that intermediality and multimodality of perception at play in such works are a necessary premise for the percept of sonic movement to form, in particular for those spatial audio compositions in which the aesthetic foundation of the work is based on the creation, development and structuring of movement gestures. This allows for key reflections on how multimodality could be integrated in relation to the staging of the listeners’ experience, their reception of and participation in the work of art, and how each medium used in the works could be employed functionally to the creation of the sensation of movement, by exploiting the different modalities of perception. Issues and limitations are also results of the investigation that seeks to provide useful insights into the field of spatial audio composition and add to the current debate on spatial audio technologies and production.