I wore the very simple left-right flipping device, using the stereo recorder with reversed headphones. And also the delay setup, and exchange of hearing with Shiloh. The latter two were not for such extended periods as Shiloh and I remarked no residual effect. Other than the top of my head hurt from smiling.
Knowing that we were to be toying with sound, during the set-up period I wandered around the room thinking about my un-altered sound experience of it. With its dramatic reduction of the outside mush of background sound it is already a very focussed sound environment. With my eyes closed I could hear when I was near a wall versus in the open space and likewise could hear whether that was curtain/dampened wall or the hard surface of drywall.
The first effect I noticed from putting on the headphones is that allot of this sonic subtlety was lost. Its a crushed spectrum of sound. One could call this either focus or deprivation depending on what you were used to hearing. The focus was on a much cruder layer of the sound environment, noises that we made deliberately, claps, language, footfalls, etc.
The simple left-right flip was quite disorienting, less so when I was not trying to interact but just moving in the space. Definitely had the sense that very quickly I could master this flip, correct for it and integrate it with my other senses (the visual seeming to dominate, get a hold on things and re-anchor). I'd say that for the most part this was a conscious correction but quite rapidly becoming second nature... to the extent that I though within a short time this reversal of input would become un-remarkable. [and a constant pan would easily maintain the disorientation].
The delay/reversal setup (I think it was quite a long delay by the time I was using it) was the most disorienting, especially when trying to engage in any interaction or verbal communication. I think the comic effect of the delay on conversation, while very fun, certainly the most fun I had all day, was mostly about the purely absurd possibility of such a sensory three legged race in interaction. The speech slurring was another effect, one where I wondered whether the slur was about the delay or about my normal ability to constantly check on my voice by hearing as I speak. Similar to being deaf?
I thought the sound swap with Shiloh was interesting, I knew it had happened (different than for her). Most interesting when we were close together and moving around, not talking, so what I was getting was almost 'right', but not quite 'right'. Definitely a sense that this was unreliable data. But I also knew this. Somehow there was a difference between the unreliable soundings coming form her headset, versus the the experience when it was just from my headset processed through the computer. Unlike the left-right swap, this had an unpredictability which would take collusion to master. I thought there was something in that. A kind of dance. Also experienced when being the sound making for Niomi's wanderind, while she was under delay. Again this put the experience into a realm of communication or interaction, but i think in a more interesting way than the delay game.