The voice harvester: an interactive installation

The Voice Harvester is an exploratory interactive installation that embodies human voice in physical materials. Sound input is processed, amplified and transmitted through audio drivers connected to a thin, flexible membrane that agitates the material on it. The title "Voice Harvester" is derived from the original design brief, which called for an object able to elicit non-linguistic, expressive, and naturalistic human vocal sounds to explore the full range of capability of the human voice through use of a novel, playful, and embodied interaction. This paper describes the intention, design process, construction, technical details, interaction, and planned/potential uses of this design exploration.