Karl Kryter—Soundscape pioneer

Abstract

Karl Kryter was a pioneer in the soundscape analysis field, even before the field had a name. Defined as the combination of the study of physical sound parameters with the perception of sound by listeners in an environmental context, soundscape analyses were conducted and reported by Kryter well before the term “Soundscape” was coined by R. Murray Schafer in 1977. These included several studies of community reactions to noise from subsonic aircraft while Kryter was with Bolt, Beranek and Newman in the 1950’s. Those studies were followed by laboratory and field tests of listener reactions to aircraft noise in the 1960’s. Kryter compiled and compared similar attitudinal and perceptional studies of transportation noise by other researchers in his 1970 book “The Effects of Noise on Man”. This compilation has proven to be comprehensive and enduring in its presentation of noise perception data. Kryter’s insights from those early studies provide valuable guidance to current and future soundscape researchers and soundscape design practitioners.