The Interactive Video Data System (IVDS) project began with an initial abstract concept of achieving interactive television by transmitting hidden digital information in the audio of commercials. Over the course of three years such a communication method was successfully developed, the hardware systems to realize the application were designed and built, and several full-scale field tests were conducted. The novel coding scheme satisfies all of the design constraints imposed by the project sponsors. By taking advantage of psychoacoustic properties, the hidden digital signature is inaudible to most human observers yet is detectable by the hardware decoder. The communication method is also robust against most extraneous room noise as well as the wow and flutter of videotape machines. The hardware systems designed for the application have been tested and work as intended. A triple-stage audio amplifier buffers the input signal, eliminates low frequency interference such as human voices, and boosts the filtered result to an appropriate level. A codec samples the filtered and amplified audio, and feeds it into the digital signal processor. The DSP, after applying a pre-emphasis and compensation filter, performs the data extraction by calculating FFTs, compensating for frequency shifts, estimating the digital signature, and verifying the result via a cyclic redundancy check. It then takes action appropriate for the command specified in the digital signature. If necessary it will verbally prompt and provide information to the user, and will decode infrared signals from a remote control. The results of interactions are transmitted by radio frequency spread spectrum to a cell cite, where they are then forwarded to the host computer. / Master of Science

On appelle installation sonore une forme d'art multimédia dans laquelle l'accent est mis en particulier sur l’aspect sonore, sans pour autant ignorer toutes les autres composantes qui constituent l’installation. Bien qu’elle soit une forme classée parmi les arts plastiques, l’installation sonore se rapporte plutôt à l’art sonore. En effet, l’art sonore se caractérise par la prééminence de l’usage du son comme moyen d’expression et comme préoccupation artistique (le grand nombre de manifestations, de blogs et de festivals d’art sonore en témoignent). Parmi les pratiques expérimentales ayant trait à l’art sonore, une nette préférence va à l’installation sonore et il semblerait qu’elle devienne une forme d’art en soi. On peut s’interroger sur la possibilité d’envisager ceci de cette manière. Dans cette thèse, il faut comprendre l’installation sonore comme une pratique artistique hétérogène, interdisciplinaire, expérimentale et hybride, pratique qu’on retrouve dans l’installation artistique en général. Cependant, on peut constater que des préoccupations reviennent souvent : la visualisation du son, la perception de l’espace à travers le sonore, l’écoute et sa relation avec la position et le déplacement du corps de l’auditeur. Afin de contribuer à une plus grande compréhension d’une culture sonore contemporaine qui est largement partagée, le propos de cette thèse est d’étudier les divers domaines auxquels l’installation sonore appartient et ceci à partir de plusieurs points de vue : historique, esthétique, culturel et médiatique. / Sound installation is an inter media-based art form that draws particular attention to the component of sound, although not at the expense of its visual underpinnings. Considering that it is a form of art, sound installation refers to sound art, an area that requires separate recognition and independence among existing art forms, due to the use of sound as a means of expression as well as the current artistic preoccupation with it (as reflected in the growing number of sound art demonstrations, blogs and festivals).Among the different experimental practices within sound art, sound installation is clearly favored, thus it would appear that it is becoming an art form in itself. Could it be seen in this way? In this thesis, Sound Installation is viewed as a current art form connected to “Art installation”, a field with its own characteristics: heterogeneous, multi-disciplinary, experimental and hybrid. However, as a singular art form, it is a source of insight, which emerges repeatedly and is amplified by the exploration of both sound and sound perception; for example, sound imaging, the perception of space through sound, listening and its relationship to the position of the listener’s body in space. The purpose of this thesis is to approach the field in which Sound Installation belongs from different perspectives such as history, aesthetics, culture and media. With the question of how to conceptualize sound components always in mind, we intend to contribute to the understanding of an ever –growing contemporary culture of sound.