Inside Out House

A binaural audio installation that simulates the experience of solitude within a natural soundscape.

Insideout House is a binaural audio installation that simulates the experience of solitude within a natural soundscape. A wooden outhouse is embedded with sounds recorded in woodland and quiet agricultural landscapes. Using simulated blindness to enhance the aural sense, the project aims to mimic the restorative experience of being in nature using auditory stimuli. While in the darkened structure, viewers are invited to visualize their experience by creating a drawing, which they may then contribute to the installation.

Binaural recordings give the effect of hearing sound in three-dimensional space and provide a unique sensory “reality.” This experience challenges the viewer to surrender to the auditory sense, conjure a feeling of solitude rarely encountered in the urban environment, and visualize their experience through drawing.

Participation

Visitors may contribute a “sound drawing,” which is then hung on the structure itself. These raw, experimental documents, created by participants while inside the darkened InsideOut House, represent the collective experiences of the visitors.

The aim is to challenge viewers to connect their aural sense to the responsive, tactile act of drawing — documenting the experience of hearing a natural soundscape.