Historic Approaches to Sonic Encounter at the Berlin Wall Memorial

Pamela Jordan

doi:10.3390/acoustics1030029

Abstract

Investigations of historic soundscapes must analyze and place results within a complex framework of contemporary and past contexts. However, the conscious use and presentation of historic built environments are factors that require more deliberate attention in historic soundscape analysis. The following paper presents a multimodal research methodology and promising preliminary results from a study at the Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin, Germany. Here, the historic context from the Wall’s recent past is presented within the surroundings of the contemporary unified capital city. The study approached the past soundscape and present site by combining historic and current-conditions research, linking archival research, conditions assessments via binaural recording and psychoacoustics analysis tools, and soundscape surveys rooted in standardized soundscape research practices. In so doing, archival textual and pictorial sources provided a rich source of primary information integrated within the study and are suggested as a resource for similar inquiries elsewhere. The investigation identified concerns specific to heritage sites that require critical consideration for historic soundscape research of the recent past—survey-participant composition and the problematized use of typical descriptors in soundscape surveys are the two concerns that are discussed. Some standardized soundscape terminology and research methodologies were found to be insufficient in historic contexts. Initial qualitative results from the research are presented as a proof of concept for the research approach with signposts for future analysis and developments.

Highlights

Historic soundscape research is expectedly intricate due to its focus on past, seemingly intangible or vanished sensorial conditions
Organizational and personal factors form an important contextual layer that is not addressed in standard soundscape investigation practices and is rarely addressed directly in soundscape research [3,4]
Sources and Methods of Historic Context Assessment For the purposes of this study, the relevant historic soundscape conditions that once existed at the site focused on the history being honored and presented at the Memorial—this is centered almost

Summary

Introduction

Historic soundscape research is expectedly intricate due to its focus on past, seemingly intangible or vanished sensorial conditions For many such projects, the investigation requires an additional level of attention due to the official designation of the site as historic. Beyond recognizing changes in acoustic properties and sound sources over time, the influence of intention and expectation on perception is an important factor for historic soundscapes [1,2]. Such physical, organizational and personal factors form an important contextual layer that is not addressed in standard soundscape investigation practices and is rarely addressed directly in soundscape research [3,4]. Sonic elements have been previously acknowledged as potentially defining and unifying for a community through time [5,6]; the particular agency of acknowledged historic spaces—and the vital layers of additional experiential, cultural and administrative context these deliver—requires more direct attention as soundscape investigation continues to be standardized

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion