A colourful banner hangs vertically in a dimly lit space. It features a grid design with sections labelled "TOO SOFT," "NORMAL," and "TOO LOUD." A transparent dome is suspended above the banner, framed by dark curtains in the background.

How Loud is Too Loud?

Installation, 2023
Commissioned by Science Gallery London for the exhibition AI: Who’s Looking After Me?
Researcher: Irumee Pai, School of Biomedical and Imaging Sciences and St Thomas' Hearing Implant Centre, King’s College London
Audiologist: Karen Tebbutt, St Thomas’ Hospital
Click here for a link to the transcript

Humans have been modifying their bodies for millennia, with technological advances in bioengineering, prosthetics and implants enabling huge improvements in healthcare and assistive technologies. How might AI shape our sonic experience of the world and transform the future of hearing healthcare?  

Drawing on her experience of hearing loss and being a cochlear implant recipient, Seo Hye Lee presents an individual’s lived experience of sound in this visual and auditory installation. A series of tones is played, mimicking a hearing test to fine-tune a cochlear implant.  The user is asked if their experience of that sound is ‘too loud’, ‘too soft’, or ‘normal’. The artist considers how this wording really relates to something as personal as the experience of sound and wonders how - with the intervention of AI - these decisions might be made for them in future. 

A colourful banner hangs vertically in a dimly lit space. It features a grid design with sections labelled "TOO SOFT," "NORMAL," and "TOO LOUD." A transparent dome is suspended above the banner, framed by dark curtains in the background.