SoniBould: Towards understanding the design of sonified expressions for bouldering

Abstract

Previous research has shown that enhancing the sports experience can increase engagement and motivation. However, the design of interactive systems for bouldering has mostly focused on enhancing athletic performance, overlooking the opportunity to support the experiential aspects. This paper focuses on using sonification to enhance the boulderers' experience during bouldering. We designed a novel system that uses capacitive sensing on climbing holds to enable the creation of sonified expressions of bouldering movements. Using this system called SoniBould, we conducted a user study, consisting of four workshops with eight sound experts and four boulderers, to explore the design strategies that can be used to create sonified expressions of bouldering. We present our findings from these workshops in the form of three approaches, for the use of sonification in bouldering. Additionally, based on our experience developing this system and the insights gathered during the workshops, we identified three themes for sonification in bouldering. With these findings, we hope to contribute to the growing body of SportsHCI and movement sonification research by opening new avenues for designing sonification in sports.