Trust Your Ears? SONICOM’s Immersive Sound Lab puts visitors to the test at London Festival

On 7–8th June, SONICOM exhibited at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (GERF), an annual celebration of science and the arts that draws over 50,000 visitors to South Kensington across one vibrant weekend.

GERF attracts over 50,000 visitors over the weekend, featuring several major institutions on and around Exhibition Road, including the Natural History Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Royal College of Art.

As part of the festival, SONICOM partners: the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London and creative technology studio Reactify, launched an exciting new interactive experience for the public.

‘The Immersive Sound Lab’ is a cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) experience exploring how sound interacts with the physical world. For 10 minutes, visitors were active participants in a specially prepared space where physical and virtual elements merged. Their task? To see if they could trust their ears, and identify if the sound was coming from the objects around them or if it was all an auditory trick.

By taking part, visitors contributed to ongoing research for SONICOM, helping researchers and designers better understand how humans perceive spatial audio. Their insights will inform the next generation of immersive environments, with potential applications in entertainment, education and beyond.

Watch the video below to get a sneak peek of the weekend 👇