Research

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Returning Sound to the Commons

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Returning Sound to the Commons

am always teaching that sound is immediate, it enters our being before we can prepare, before thought can form a perceptual shield against it. From the time we are in the womb, before ‘King Sight’ (Walter Murch in Chion’s Audio Vision) has taken over we are learning and understanding about the our world through it, and then when we born, our existence in the world is to be immersed in it, pulled into relations that we do not choose but cannot escape. Unlike sight, a sense which allows for distance and framing, sound insists on intimacy, it places us inside the world and ourselves. Ever since, just over 50 years ago, R. Murray Schafer tried to “tune the world” and formalised the notion of ‘soundscape’ and thus soundscape studies which has lead increasing formalisation within the frameworks of academia and now government legislation (for example in the Noise and Soundscape Plan for Wales 2023-2028).

Soundtalking: Extending Soundscape Practice - UKAN conference poster

Soundtalking: Extending Soundscape Practice - UKAN conference poster

This study explores the practice of "soundtalking," a novel method of participant-led sound practice, within the environment and soundscape of the Dee Estuary in the UK. Over the course of twelve months, the Our Dee Estuary Project facilitated monthly meetings where participants engaged in in-depth discussions and sound-making activities, fostering a deeper connection with both their local and auditory environments.

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Re-evaluation and mapping our sense of place and time with the ‘sonic dérive, GPS data and binaural recordings : Sonic mapping of desire paths and places of sonic interest.

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Re-evaluation and mapping our sense of place and time with the ‘sonic dérive, GPS data and binaural recordings : Sonic mapping of desire paths and places of sonic interest.

The practice of soundwalking and recording has been implemented as a method in artistic composition pedagogy, soundscape awareness interventions, in addition to social science, psychology and acoustics research. This paper explores the author’s phenomenological practice of recording sonic dérives, psychogeographic sound wanderings through urban and rural environments; exploring both consciously and unconsciously environments and paths of sonic interest, leading to the creation and mapping of sonic ‘desire’ paths.

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Are we hearing the same soundscape? Who's listening, how, and to what?'

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Are we hearing the same soundscape? Who's listening, how, and to what?'

Soundscape research has often struggled to deal with the multidimensional experience of the phenomenological perception of the sound environment. Whilst there have been a number of important large multidisciplinary projects formed from a wide range of stakeholder disciplines, results have often been epistemologically split between interpreting the complex multidimensional, multi-epistemological, phenomenological experience of a soundscape for some disciplines, versus the positivist, objectivist quantitative approach of other disciplines.

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Soundsitting as an additional method to Soundwalking - UKAN conference poster

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Soundsitting as an additional method to Soundwalking - UKAN conference poster

Soundsitting as an alternative to soundwalking offers a number of additional benefits to the traditional soundwalk, including inclusivity for visually impaired and those unable to walk. Soundsitting is a way of obtaining deep immersive listening in a single soundscape context, rather than transitioning through differing contexts on a walk. Both methods are complimentary.