Designing sound with emotional precision

Client: A sound design company 

Focus: Emotional impact of timbre in ambient sound libraries 

A sound design team wanted to better understand the emotional tone of their audio library, especially how subtle changes in timbre shaped listeners’ experiences. 

To support them, we conducted detailed acoustic analyses using Python and Librosa, then mapped the timbral profiles of their sound assets. The data was visualized in interactive dashboards built in Tableau, allowing their team to explore emotional patterns across their library. 

Outcome: 

These tools now help them design emotionally cohesive soundscapes with greater precision, improving both creative output and communication across their team.

Terror versus anxiety in horror film music

Project: Academic research published in peer-reviewed journal 

Focus: How acoustic features signal different types of fear

While fear is often treated as a single emotional category, horror music tells a more nuanced story. Before founding SonicUXR, Caitlyn designed and ran a study to explore how music communicates terror versus anxiety, two distinct subtypes of fear.  

The research combined listener perception ratings with acoustic analyses to isolate which sonic features contribute to each emotional state. 

Outcome: 

The results shed light on how composers and sound designers can intentionally shape emotional tone in suspenseful media. The study was published in a peer-reviewed journal, has been viewed over 3,000 times, and was featured in Popular Science.