Sentire is a body–machine interface that sonifies motor behaviour in real time and a participatory, interactive performance in which two people use their physical movements to collaboratively create sound while constantly being influenced by the results. Based on our informal observation that basal social behaviours emerge during Sentire performances, the present article investigates our principal hypothesis that Sentire can foster basic mechanisms underlying non-verbal social interaction. We illustrate how coordination serves as a crucial basic mechanism for social interaction, and consider how it is addressed by various therapeutic approaches, including therapeutic use of real-time auditory feedback. Then we argue that the implementation of Sentire may be fruitful in healthcare contexts and in promoting general well-being. We describe how the Sentire system has been developed further within the scope of the research project ‘Social interaction through sound feedback–Sentire’ that combines human–computer interaction, sound design and real-world research, against the background of the relationship between sound, sociality and therapy. The question concerning how interaction is facilitated through Sentire is addressed through the first results of behavioural analysis using structured observation, which allows for a quasi-quantitative sequential analysis of interactive behaviour.

Sentire is both an artwork and a research project in which proximity and touch are sonified with the aim to enhance body perception and social interaction. Sentire uses a digital system that mediates body movements and musical sounds, using a Body-Machine-Interface that allows two (or more) people to interact with one an- other in a physical environment—rather than in a virtual environment. The artwork consists of a participatory performance, which has been presented at numerous events since 2016. Distance and touch between the users can be measured and mapped to an algorithmic sound environment in real time. Through this multi- modal experience, the awareness of the self and the other is enhanced on bodily, especially kinaesthetic levels, i.e. movement perception. Since 2019, Sentire has been also a research project at the Humboldt University of Berlin , with the aim to develop the system for therapeutic purposes.