Sandra Pauletto

I am a Professor in Media Technology specialising in Media Production, and a Docent in Sound and Music Computing at the Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design (MID), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). I joined KTH in 2019. Prior to that I was at the University of York (UK) and the University of Huddersfield (UK). My main research interests are sound and music computing, media production, sound design, sonic interaction design and sonification.

At home, at work and in urban environments, designed sounds constitute a large part of our soundscape. Autonomous and intelligent systems, virtual agents and personalised technology are on the rise and utilise sound as a key channel of communication.
While we interact, experience and understand the world largely through sound, we have no clear grasp of how to design sound and listening experiences in a way that is, at once, shareable and personal, rich and sustainable, fair and expressive.
By leveraging our tacit knowledge of everyday sonic interactions and our aesthetic appreciation for sonic mediated productions, Sandra and her team investigate, design and develop interactive sonic designs that address the conundrum between the personal and the social in which current technologies place sound and listening.

Application areas include health and sustainability where sound and listening serve as ways to embody, sense and probe ourselves and our surroundings. Sandra and her team have developed sonic designs that make everyday energy use tangible, allowing us to question environmental costs and social consequences. They have developed sonic interaction designs for better sleep that adapt to a person’s environment, needs and preferences. They critically explore current approaches to sound personalisation and AI generated sound to develop strategies that foreground user agency and sustainable approaches to sonic production.

Overall, Sandra’s research provides fundamental knowledge on how to design sonic experiences for a more sustainable, tolerant and expressive world.

Current and recent projects:

The Role of Sound in Sleep and Memory: Improving Sleep by Cueing Positive Memories

Sleeping Soundly: interactive sonic technologies to support sleep for healthy living

Personalising Sonic Interactions

Lullabyte: creative and analytical sonic interaction design and sonification of sleep data

Frugal generative AI (with Associate Professors André Holzapfel and Bob Sturm)

Sound for Energy - Sonic Interaction Design to Support Energy Efficiency Behavior in the Household

The Radio Sound Studio

SonicFunc

Designing the sound of the future

Fictitious Soundscapes

SCORe Project

SoniHED

Procedural Audio for Games

Listening Across Discilines II (I am a partner in this AHRC project by Prof. S. Voegelin (PI) and Prof. A. Barney (Co-I))

Tales from Two Cities (with Dr David Hickman)

More about my research...

Background

My background is in Physics (MPhys(Hons), Manchester) and Music (Classical Guitar, Conservatorio “G.Tartini”, Trieste, Italy), education which I have combined in my MSc and PhD in Music Technology at the University of York, UK. After my MSc and during my PhD, I worked as a Research Assistant on two EPSRC funded projects. The first of these, the COSTART project, was based in the Computer Science Department of Loughborough University and aimed at studying the relationship between artists and technologists during the creation of digital artworks. The second project,Data mining through an interactive sonic approach, was based in the Electronics Department of the University of York and focused on displaying data structures, present in complex multivariate data sets, using sound synthesis and interaction. This research formed also the basis of my doctoral thesis,Interactive non-speech auditory display of multivariate data.

I have experience teaching at 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle level ( BA, BSc, MA, MSc and PhD)

Management roles

Throughout my career I have had a number of management roles including:

At University level:

• Associate Director for Mobility for the Digital Futures Centre
• Deputy Director of the Centre of Chronic Diseases and Disorders (Wellcome Trust  and University of York funded)
• Member of the Standing Committee on Assessment (University of York)

At Department level:

• Deputy Head of the Media Technology and Interaction Design (MID) Division at KTH
• Programme Director for the MA/MSc in Postproduction with specialisation in Sound Design
• Chair of Board of Examiners
• Department Management Committee Member
• Chair of Equality and Diversity Committee
• Athena Swan Department Lead
• Chair of Mitigating Circumstances Committee