I Hear You: On Human Knowledge and Vocal Intelligence

Moana Ava Holenstein

doi:10.21814/rlec.6316

Authors

Moana Ava Holenstein Sound Studies and the Sonic Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Berlin, Germany https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1895-3325

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.6316

Keywords:

voice technology, human-computer interaction, affective computing, large language models

Abstract

This interview explores embodied agency and the evolving dynamics of knowledge creation through practical and experimental engagement with conversational artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Drawing on media archaeology, media theory, and science and technology studies, it examines how the emergence of language interfaces destabilize distinctions between user and system, collapsing the boundaries between human and artificial modes of expression and understanding. Framed within an artistic research methodology, the project critically engages with the ongoing shift toward machine- and voice-based forms of inquiry, analysing how these technologies reshape the epistemic, linguistic, and ontological conditions of knowledge and research. Departing from keyboard-based interaction, the process emphasizes the decoupling of the body from the machine interface and the increasing fluidity of human-computer correspondence through voice technology. While acknowledging the growing uncertainty of origin and autonomy resulting from this technological shift, it foregrounds indeterminate authorship as both methodological challenge and theoretical pivot, underlining the implications for academic accountability and data ethics. The employment of practice-based experimentation is used as a tool to trace the infrastructural, affective, and rhetorical vectors through which intelligent automated speech influences knowledge production. By examining this process, the study contributes to ongoing debates on verification, trust, and the social negotiation of information induced by advanced conversational AI agents. Overall, the paper argues that voice technologies do not merely transmit content but actively configure the conditions under which knowledge is produced, authenticated, and circulated.

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Author Biography

Moana Ava Holenstein, Sound Studies and the Sonic Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Moana Ava Holenstein is a Berlin-based artist, sound designer and researcher. She has been working as a research assistant at Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications in the department of Capture and Display Systems since 2021. Her artistic practice centers on auditory immersion, exploring relationships between technology, identity and transience. Her current focus lies on tactile listening, integrating raw materials into experimental interfaces to create a sonic dialog between recursive vibrations and the body. From these interactions, complex interfaces and soundscapes emerge, connecting personal narratives and reflections on the intersections of digital and organic domains.

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