The Aural Cartographer's Dilemma

Austin Franklin

The Aural Cartographer's Dilemma
Image credit: Austin Franklin

Abstract:

This paper introduces the aural cartographer’s dilemma: contemporary digital tools for spatial audio excel at mapping sound objects within coordinate systems but conflate coordinate-based representations of space with the embodied, relational experience of sound. It traces this inheritance from stereo panning through MPEG-I, demonstrating that successive technical paradigms instead reproduce a composer-score-conductor model through ever sophisticated means. It argues this is not a technical limitation awaiting solution but a philosophical commitment requiring reconsideration.