somo

supervised by prof. joanna dauner and jeongho park.

SOMO is an instrument for musical self expression that can be used in the context of music therapy.
the body of the instrument is remi- niscent of a singing bowl, while the bars and spheres add an interacti- ve element to the instrument.there are seven spheres, each making a sound that is associated with an emotion: sadness, happiness, anger, shame, confidence, anxiety, love.sound mapping helped planning and creating the sounds. then, a prototype was built using arduino to realise the interaction concept.

the instrument remains silent when the spheres are at the bottom. sliding a sphere up the bar creates a sound that increases in loudness the further it goes up. How do you feel when thinking about your future? first, the patient can listen and feel into the sounds and associate an emotion.

giving each sphere a sound, or keeping it silent, creates a soundscape that describes the emotions a patient feels when thinking about situations they found themselves in, their trauma, the future, or people in their lives.

SOMO helps patients communicate using sound to express themselves. this makes the instrument accessible for people with emotional, social, developmental, and physical disabilities, but especially those inhibited from speaking. patients might even overcome speaking inhibitions using SOMO.