Investigating Colour-Sound Mapping in Children and Adults: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study that investigates the mapping between color and sound in two groups of subjects, consisting of 8 children and 8 adults, respectively. The color was decomposed using the Hue-Saturation-Brightness representation, and the musical stimuli consisted of chords determined by three parameters: the Root Tone, the Mode, and the Octave. The results showed that both groups preferred the mapping Hue-Octave, Saturation-Mode, Brightness-Root Tone. The ANOVA test was applied to the results, and it showed a trend towards significance in children’s preferences, whereas adults’ results were not significant. Once the best mapping is defined, it will be implemented in a portable, embedded system for sensory substitution of sight with sound. This paper provides a promising starting point for further research in the field of affective sonification.