Beyond landscape's visible realm: Recorded sound, nature, and wellbeing.

Clare Hickman,Jonathan Prior,Helen Manchester,Victoria Bates,Stephanie Singer

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102271

Clare Hickman, Jonathan Prior + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102271

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Abstract

This article draws on an AHRC/EPSRC funded project called 'A Sense of Place: Exploring nature and wellbeing through the non-visual senses'. The project used sound and smell technologies, as well as material textures and touch, to ask: what does 'wellbeing' mean for people in relation to the non-visual aspects of nature, and how might technology play a role in promoting it (if at all)? This article takes recorded sound as a case study. It argues that recorded soundscapes should be understood on their own terms rather than as 'less than' or a simulation of natural environments. They have specific value in creating space for imagination, particularly when delivered with care and as part of the co-creation of sensory experience. Overall, the article argues that the value of emerging immersive technologies is not to simulate nature better. An 'immersive experience' is richest when it allows for - and reveals - the nuances and complexities of individual responses to natural environments.

Highlights

MethodologiesThis data was gathered through the testing and development of different research processes, rather than using any one methodology on a large scale
This article draws on an AHRC/EPSRC funded project called ‘A Sense of Place: Exploring nature and wellbeing through the non-visual senses’ in order to examine such assumptions about nature and wellbeing
It aligns with recent work that has sought to de-homogenise nature, for example showing the range of aesthetic properties of different birdsong (Ratcliffe et al, 2018), or the differential aesthetic qualities of the sounds of landscape beyond the constraints of ‘pleasing’ or ‘displeasing’ sound (Prior, 2017)

Summary

Methodologies

This data was gathered through the testing and development of different research processes, rather than using any one methodology on a large scale. We use the term ‘crowdsourcing’ here to refer to methods that allow for gathering responses on as large a scale as possible; typically understood to refer to the sourcing of data online, this project combined in-person interviews and social media All of these sought answers to the same questions, or prompts: ‘Place yourself at a moment in time in which you felt happy and well. The final soundscape was more abstract and drew upon, but significantly transmorphed, natural sounds; for this we wanted to explore the value of something that was unrecognisable as a specific natural environment.4 Each of these was first tested in a small communal workshop with participants who had contributed to the first stage of data collection. The remainder of this article draws upon all of the data gathered across all stages of the research, but focuses primarily on responses to the immersive experi ence due to the richness of this data

Findings

Conclusions

Data availability statement