Módulo 1: ¿Qué significa estar inmerso?
An introduction to the spatial, perceptual, and narrative foundations of the immersive experience.
Portrait Instantané d’un Scaphandrier, an underwater photograph by Louis Boutan, 1899.
To talk about sound is to talk about space. Every sound source occupies a position, projects itself, and transforms depending on the physical environment in which it is emitted. Sound does not exist in isolation—it is always embedded in a specific space.
When we speak of immersive audio, we’re not only referring to how sound interacts with the physical environment, but also to how it behaves within virtual spaces. This introduces an additional layer: the user’s experience is built at the intersection between the physical space they inhabit and the virtual environment that surrounds them—a space contained within another space.
Not all immersive works take place in physical settings. Nor are they all developed exclusively in virtual environments. In many cases, the work unfolds in a hybrid territory. And that territory is not only technical—it is also narrative and perceptual.
The way sound is distributed, the type of story being told, the available listening devices, the audio quality, the degree of user participation, and the sonic realism—all of these are variables that shape the construction of an immersive experience.
In this context, several key questions arise:
How many sound sources are needed to create a sense of immersion?
What determines whether a user feels inside a sonic narrative?
What role do the body, attention, expectation, and memory play in that experience?
What separates—or connects—the physical world from the virtual world in a sound work?
To think about sound through the lens of spatiality also means thinking about how it is perceived, how it is interpreted, and how it is inhabited.
IMMERSIVE
The term immersive shares its etymological root with verbs like to submerge y to flood. All refer to a total immersion experience, where a body is completely enveloped by an environment.
To flood comes from the Latin inundāre: to occupy a space with a fluid substance, to saturate a territory. It’s not just about presence, but about displacement. What floods changes what was there. It covers, transforms, and redefines it.
Applied to sound, the concept of immersion doesn’t only imply physical enveloping. It involves a perceptual reorganization. A sonic territory that interferes with the listener’s previous state and places them in a different relationship with space, time, and attention.
Immersion, then, is not merely a technical feature. It is a way of experiencing, of relating to what is heard. It is a process that affects both the content and the perceiver.
Conditions for Narrative Immersion
Being immersed in a narrative requires several interdependent elements:
The total duration of the experience.
The listener’s physical environment.
The sound space constructed for the narration.
The way the content is presented to maintain interest.
The management of the work’s internal timing.
The modes of access and interaction the listener has with the narrative.
In the field of experience design, the video game industry adopts the concept of optimal experience o flow, formulated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This approach provides a framework to think about the conditions necessary to achieve an immersive experience.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
According to Csikszentmihalyi, a flow experience occurs when the following eight criteria are met:
The activity involves clear and well-defined tasks.
It is possible to maintain uninterrupted concentration.
There are defined goals.
Immediate feedback is given on actions.
Participation becomes deep and seemingly effortless, allowing external worries to fade away.
A sense of control over one’s decisions within the environment is perceived.
Self-consciousness disappears. This is only possible if the environment is perceived as safe. In the sonic context, this is compromised when sounds are excessively loud, when multiple frequencies saturate simultaneously, or when the real environmental sounds interacting with the work are ignored.
The perception of time passing is altered.
Applying these principles to sound design means considering not only the spatial placement of sounds but also their temporality. When a sound occurs, for how long, how it transforms, and in what context—these are key decisions.
Immersion is not achieved simply by distributing sounds in space. It requires a precise articulation between space, time, content, and perception.
Exercises
Exercise: In the Darkness of Space
Objective: Explore how spatialization and verbal information modify sonic and narrative perception.
Duration: 15 minutes.
Introduction:
In this exercise, we’ll work with the trailer for the podcast Blackout, starring and produced by Rami Malek (known for his role in Mr. Robot). Released in 2019, the podcast consists of eight episodes and is set in a world facing a total electrical collapse. In this context, large-scale technologies fail, and tensions emerge between chaos, survival, and communication.
Rami Malek plays Simon, a local radio DJ whose station continues to operate thanks to a generator. From there, he tries to keep his small-town community informed and calm. The narrative use of radio as a medium evokes classics like The War of the Worlds.
Instructions:
We’ll listen to the excerpt twice.
First listen:
Put on your headphones.
Play the following audio:
During this listening, pay special attention to the sounds:
How are they arranged in space?
What distance do you perceive between the sound sources?
How is the environment organized through sound?
Which elements create tension, calm, or surprise for you?
Write down keywords that describe textures, movements, or spatial sensations.
Second listen:
Play the same audio again.
This time, read simultaneously the Spanish transcription of the main voice.
(insert translation here)
Observations:
How does your perception of the sound change when you know exactly what the voice says?
Do you feel the overall meaning of the scene changes?
Are there sounds you had previously overlooked?
Has the narrative become clearer or more confusing?
Note: This exercise aims to analyze how textual information can alter the listening experience. In many immersive experiences, verbal content and sound design coexist on different layers. Identifying how they interact helps us better understand the relationship between form, background, and message.
This exercise helps us realize that sound doesn’t just construct an environment—it also gives it meaning. Spatial placement, narrative clarity, and the relationship between what is heard and what is understood are fundamental variables when designing immersive experiences.