The Distance Between Us: Exploring the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit Through the Soundscape of Biometric Monitoring

Abstract

Audio technology rested at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though heart rate monitors, ventilators, and pulse oximeters are not traditionally thought of as tools for musical expression, their sounds hold a resonance that has not been fully explored, given the spaces these biometric monitoring devices held in the zeitgeist. In my piece “The Distance Between Us”, I investigate the role of the sonic output of biometric measurement as a source of input data for artistic expression on its own. I present a score grounded in the auditory environment of a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU), with graphic notation inspired by the visual output of heart rate monitors and pulse oximeters, that directs the dynamics of the performers as they improvise using steady-state and alert tones of monitoring devices to explore the soundscape of the ICU. “The Distance Between Us” becomes a representation of the profound connection between soundscape, score, and the emotional and physical toll of the pandemic. I include analyses of performer and audience member reflections that suggest the importance of considering the contextual relationships that we build with auditory stimuli when composing and performing pieces grounded in emotionally-charged subject matter.