Mindful Social Listening (MSL): Intelligent immersive soundscape environments for student mental health and wellbeing
Quick start: click this link then click "Connect" and rate each soundscape you hear on a scale from 1 (dislike) to 5 (like)
See project overview below. Short link to access this page: http://bit.ly/msl-ua
MSL sessions are conducted periodically in several locations at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. This page pertains to Cameron room 1-40. Sessions will be held regularly with the start of the fall term 2024.
The soundscape will adjust to your preferences automatically if you provide feedback via your WiFi enabled device (phone, tablet, computer) by connecting to our system. Open a browser on your device (phone, tablet, or laptop) & click the link associated with your location, then click "Connect" on the Mira Web window that pops up. You may continue to use your device and the same browser for other activities (using different tabs or windows). Just don't close the MSL interface (Mira Web).
In Cameron Library room 1-40: click this link (or type http://178.128.239.114:8000/ in the browser address window), then "Connect".
Using the MSL interface:
The MSL interface displays five buttons, labelled 1 (dislike) to 3 (neutral) to 5 (like), plus two intermediate responses: 2 and 4.
You may tap any of these buttons at any time to indicate your satisfaction with the currently playing soundscape for your purposes (e.g. to study, to relax, to socialize). Everyone has one vote per soundscape, but you can change your vote at any time.
At intervals (currently set at 3 minutes) the system tallies all the votes and decides whether to continue the current soundscape, or select a new one. Over time it "learns" what the participating group likes, using a simple reinforcement learning algorithm.
Whenever a new soundscape is selected your vote is reset. A value labelled "group total votes" indicates the total number of users who have voted.
Feel free to listen to our soundscapes while...
studying
writing
reading
chatting
resting
...or doing anything else you would ordinarily do in the Library.
We hope these sounds will help you both relax and focus, contributing to a state of mindfulness conducive to student mental health and wellbeing!
After you leave or the session ends, please complete our survey to provide feedback on your experience. You may also use this web form to join our mailing list.
How can soundscapes enhance student wellbeing and academic success? Academic life is replete with exploration, discovery, learning, creativity…and stress. Across all disciplines, postsecondary students suffer from the stress that inevitably accompanies the harried occupation of university life, impeding learning and jeopardizing wellbeing. This dire situation has become a recognized mental health crisis. As university mental health programs are woefully under-resourced, students perforce rely on various forms of self-care. Our pilot study revealed that over 75% of students experience high levels of stress; 94% use music and sound to cope; and about 80% find it highly effective. They use personal listening devices (headphones, earbuds) to enhance concentration, mask distractions, and reduce stress, by listening to preferred genres. However, students may not be optimizing their sonic environments for stress reduction and focus, and personal listening devices contribute to social isolation.
We address these limitations by developing an autonomous system generating a responsive soundscape environment in a social listening space. Building on AAS, combining data mining, machine learning, and algorithmic composition, and drawing on field recordings, applied ethnomusicology, and sound art, we are designing a responsive soundscape environment that can autonomously adapt to feedback from socially interacting users, enhancing mindful calm, and supporting academic wellbeing.
Presentation: Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, 2023 (Ottawa)
If you have any questions please contact the principal investigator on this project, Michael Frishkopf, Professor of Music, University of Alberta, at michaelf@ualberta.ca
ps - for laptop system click http://178.128.239.114:8001/