PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Karen Collins

Also known as KC Collins, Karen E. Collins

Karen Collins, who now publishes as KC Collins, is a sound researcher at Carleton University whose work runs from software that generates game music to studies of how sound shapes the way people perceive robots and animated shapes. After a doctorate at the University of Liverpool on sound and music in film, she joined the University of Waterloo in 2007 as a Canada Research Chair and set out to build a software engine that composes audio in real time in response to users. Her 2008 MIT Press book Game Sound yielded one of the Top 10 Big Ideas in Gaming at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, and in 2016 she wrote and directed the documentary Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound. The Royal Society of Canada named her to its College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2015. Today she is a professor in Carleton's School of Information Technology, where a 2025 study with Maya Murad and Adel Manji found that added sounds shift the perceived intelligence of animated shapes, and MIT Press published her book Sonic UX in 2026.

Works
127
Citations
1,518
h-index
16

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2007

    Film sound at Liverpool

    For her doctorate at the University of Liverpool, she studies the function of sound and music in film, working with Philip Tagg on science fiction cinema. Postdoctoral studies at Carleton University carry her work from linear cinema to interactive media before she arrives in Waterloo in 2007.

  2. 2007

    Canada Research Chair at Waterloo

    In 2007, she joins the University of Waterloo's Canadian Centre of Arts and Technology as Tier II Canada Research Chair in Communication and Technology and an assistant professor of drama and speech communication. Backed by a CFI grant of more than $100,000 for an interactive audio lab, she plans a software engine that composes real-time audio in response to user cues.

  3. 2008–2009

    The book Game Sound

    MIT Press publishes her book Game Sound in 2008, a history of video game music and sound design. In 2009, its big idea ranks among the Top 10 Big Ideas in Gaming at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

  4. 2012

    A renewed chair in interactive audio

    Waterloo renews her Canada Research Chair in Interactive Audio in 2012 with $500,000 over five years. Her lab creates software that inserts user-generated content into games, makes game sound more accessible, and automatically generates sounds and music to accompany existing musical scores.

  5. 2015

    Royal Society of Canada college

    In 2015, the Royal Society of Canada names her to its College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Her work by 2015 includes published game-audio software and a patent for gaming technology accessible to hearing-impaired players.

  6. 2016

    The documentary Beep

    She writes and directs Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound, a Kickstarter-funded Canadian film released in March 2016 that traces game sound from penny arcades and pinball to 2015. The film wins Best Editing at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in 2016.

  7. 2024–2025

    Sounds for robots

    In February 2024, as associate director of Carleton's School of Information Technology, she presents studies of robot sounds at KTH in Stockholm, aiming to improve trust in robots and their likeability. In 2025, she publishes an i-Perception study with Maya Murad and Adel Manji that tests interface sounds and robot sounds on animated shapes and finds that the sounds shift perceived intelligence.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Carleton

    Publishing as KC Collins, she is a professor in the School of Information Technology in Carleton University's Faculty of Engineering and Design, working on sonic branding, user experience and human-computer interaction. MIT Press publishes her book Sonic UX: The Science of Sound in User Experience Research in 2026.

Career

  1. Since 2024Carleton UniversityPostdoctoral Researcher, Associate Director
  2. 2007–2020University of WaterlooTier II Canada Research Chair in Communication and Technology; Assistant Professor of Drama and Speech Communication

Education

  1. University of LiverpoolDoctorate

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Game Sound2008 · The MIT Press eBooks · 246 citations
  2. Losses disguised as wins in modern multi‐line video slot machines2010 · Addiction · 177 citations
  3. Playing with Sound2013 · The MIT Press eBooks · 142 citations
  4. The Impact of Sound in Modern Multiline Video Slot Machine Play2013 · Journal of Gambling Studies · 128 citations
  5. Using Sound to Unmask Losses Disguised as Wins in Multiline Slot Machines2013 · Journal of Gambling Studies · 104 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Carleton University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Carleton University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Carleton University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Waterloo. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Karen Collins yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. August 21 Bulletin: Prof to investigate interactive audio bulletin.uwaterloo.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Karen Collins | Centre for Digital Media thecdm.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. UW Daily Bulletin, April 3, 2009: Prof's sound ideas about video gaming bulletin.uwaterloo.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. University of Waterloo awarded six Canada Research Chairs uwaterloo.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Tuesday, September 29, 2015 | Daily Bulletin | University of Waterloo uwaterloo.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Hello Accomplice: Robot Sound & Anthropomorphism | KTH kth.se. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Sound effects have only minor contribution to perceptions of anthropomorphism and animacy of simple animated shapes ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. KC Collins • Carleton University Experts experts.carleton.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. KC Collins - Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) carleton.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  11. Sonic UX by KC Collins - Penguin Books Australia penguin.com.au. Checked 20 October 2026.