Mushroom Pet Pet
The project addresses a fundamental gap in how humans interact with fungi: while mushrooms react dynamically to their environment through electrical signaling, these reactions remain invisible and imperceptible to us. By translating bioelectrical signals into sound, Mushroom Pet Pet enables mushroom home-growers to "hear" their fungi in a manner similar to how one might hear pet vocalizations. This process invites an emotional connection and educational curiosity, positioning mushrooms as organisms with a certain "presence" in the household rather than passive decorative plants.
The system uses electrodes to collect biosignals from the fungi, processing these electrical signals through an in-browser sonification engine built with Tone.js. The sound design creates abstract audio patterns that mimic characteristics found in pet vocalizations, varying in pitch, rhythm, and intensity based on the mushroom's activity levels and environmental stimuli. This approach leverages two key insights: first, that dynamic interaction and feedback distinguish our relationships with animals from plants, and second, that passive sonification creates ambient awareness of the mushroom's "voice" without requiring active attention to a screen. The browser-based implementation ensures high accessibility across desktop and mobile devices without requiring app installation, lowering barriers to entry for the target audience of mushroom cultivators.
The application features three distinct modes that offer different perspectives on fungal life. Lifecycle Mode presents historical data, allowing users to explore the mushroom's lifetime data from growth to decay. Live Sound Mode provides real-time sonification, where bioelectrical signals generate dynamic audio-visual feedback with synchronized waveforms and responsive visualizations. Eco Mixer Mode enables interactive experimentation, letting users manipulate environmental variables like humidity and vibration while observing immediate changes in the mushroom's responses. These three modes contribute to transforming invisible fungal biological activity into accessible, engaging content.
