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// Sound in suspension. Light as conduit. Perception as process.

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Satellite dish, RTL-SDR receiver, Low Noise Amplifier, Parabolic mirror, LED light, Laser diodes, solar panel, Analog to Digital Converter, Aluminum steel, various cabling

Signal Dissonance, is part of an experimental research series, investigates converting digital signals to analog formats via satellite radio, asking, "Can vibrations from radio signals carry sound through light?" Using a DIY laser transmitter and solar panel receiver, it combines practical demonstration with conceptual exploration. The presentation features diagrams, guides, videos, and audio samples. Visitors can view the setup, listen to audio, and read technical notes. The focus is on developing clear audio transmission through light, exploring component choices and light-sound principles, and highlighting future applications in communication and art.

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I

It began with not knowing.
Not ignorance, but a question that returned, again and again—
A shape in the dark that asked to be followed.

I had no map. No training. Just a sense: there’s something here.

So I built. Slowly. Improvising.
Learning the language of light, of components, of error.
Months passed. The form emerged.

It’s imperfect—
But it works.

And in that, it carries something essential:
That understanding does not require knowing.
That exploration begins in uncertainty.

And that curiosity, sustained, becomes structure.
Becomes signal.
Becomes a way of saying: we were here, and we wondered.

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A field of air.
A thread of light.
A mirror curved.
A blade, sharp enough to cast a shadow on the unseen.

Here, disturbance becomes image.

Heat leaves a trace.
Pressure draws lines.
Sound, once for the ear alone,
curls into form.

What you see is not the object—
but the consequence.

The air, moved by force,
signals speaking in ripples.
And light listens.

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​Signal Dissonance is an ongoing meditation on perception—an attempt to understand how sound exists as both pressure and presence, as both felt and seen. It asks: Can light become more than illumination? Can it hold vibration, meaning, memory?

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What began as a speculative experiment became a multi-sensory installation—part audio lab, part visual poem: a bilateral system that uses modulated light to carry sound across space, thinking of signals as living systems. An intersection where technical schematics meet generative sound compositions; instructional diagrams sit beside ephemeral recordings; the invisible, made briefly visible, flickering in and out of form.

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Truthfully, this all feels like an extension of how I’ve always moved through the world. I was the kid who spent more time trying to glitch through video game maps than actually finishing the missions—just to see what was beneath the surface. I didn’t want to complete the game; I wanted to understand the structure, and find ways to warp the re/solution. This project is no different. It’s about looking underneath the veil of experience and asking: What else is here that we haven’t learned to see yet?

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Point light source → collimating lens → test area → concave mirror → knife edge at focal point → camera or screen.

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Moiré- Fringe Method of flow visualization​

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  • A central gradient of blues and yellows, often indicating index variations in the medium.

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  • Fine banding or wave-like patterns, consistent with air currents, thermal gradients, or gas flow.

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These effects result from light rays being deflected slightly due to density differences in air (such as heat rising or gas movement). A lens-grid light block, partially blocks the deflected rays, turning invisible changes in air into visible contrasts of light and dark—or in this case, colorful gradients with chromatic characteristics, arranged and sized to coincide in the image producing field of view.

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©2025 by Eric Acuña

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