EchoArtLink: Enhancing Social Connectedness Between Parents and Children Living Apart Through Digital Sound Visualization

More and more family members experience geographic separation over long distances due to global migration and the pursuit of better education and work opportunities. Maintaining social connectedness between children and parents who live apart becomes a critical challenge. This study introduces EchoArtLink, a system that collects sound data and transforms them into digital art displayed on family picture frames. This design leverages sound visualization technology to enhance social connectedness among family members living apart. This system offers two methods of sound visualization: visualizing activities recognized from sounds (Method activities) and visualizing the sound features directly without recognizing activities (Method features). This study conducted a mixed-methods experiment involving 10 participants and their geographically separated parents to explore how two visualization methods affect social connectedness differently between parents and children living apart. The results revealed that the participants gained higher levels of connectedness after experiencing both visualization methods. This study contributes to the field of social connectedness by offering a novel system and valuable insights into the role of sound visualization in long-distance family communication.