Sonic Environment Research Articles

Spatio-temporal variability in human and natural sounds in a rural landscape

The study of landscape structure and functions, including the underlying ecological and anthropogenic processes has traditionally relied on visual aspects without considering information of non-visionary cues, e.g. auditory. In this work we applied a complementary approach for the study of landscapes using qualitative information for the sonic environment. In particular we studied the qualitative linkages between landscape structure and functions and daily sound patterns. The main objectives were the investigation of the spatial and temporal variability in sound perception, and the identification of the dominant sound categories (anthropogenic, biological, geophysical originated sounds) in relation to landscape characteristics. Our results showed significant spatio-temporal variability in the intensity of different sound categories, which reflects distinct soundscape patterns. Temporal sound variability reflected the daily cycle of anthropogenic activities and biological processes, whereas the spatial sound viability was mainly shaped by landscape attributes. The combination of the visual landscape information and its emergent acoustic profile enhances our perception and understanding of nature and this integrated approach may have many practical applications in landscape management, monitoring and planning.

Can urban squares be recognized by means of their Soundscape

Squares have always played important functions in urban areas, being a reference place in the citizen's life. During last decades, road traffic noise has influenced the perception of the sonic environment in many squares. However, there are squares where historical and typical sound sources are still present. In both cases the sonic environment remains a feature of the square together with other factors, like the visual impact. The present paper deals with the above issue and describes an experiment aimed to study how the soundscape of a square can contribute to recognize the square itself. For this purpose some well known squares in Naples and Rome have been selected to cover a range of different characteristics. In each square binaural recordings and pictures have been taken simultaneously. Then the binaural recordings have been played back by headphone to a group of subjects in laboratory simultaneously to the display of the pictures of all squares on a screen. After listening each sound the subject was asked to choose among the pictures the one showing the square judged to have the sonic environment most appropriate to the sound just heard. The comparison between subjective responses and correct answers are in progress.

Investigating the potential of human echolocation in virtual sonic trigonometry

Describing a mathematical problem often involves visual diagrams. For blind students this accentuates the challenges they face. Projects such as LAMBDA have used linear speech and Braille to convey algebraic equations. However, spatial features, for example in trigonometry, are difficult to map to a linear‐based system. Traditional tactile methods (e.g. German film) convey simple shapes but need Braille support and speech‐tactile interfaces (e.g. NOMAD) require unconventional equipment. Cognitive issues regarding tactile interpretation of 3D shapes also persist. Blind students interact regularly with speech technology and audio games. This exposure means that the auditory system is potentially becoming accustomed to sonic interpretation of computer‐based information. Some of our research has looked at expanding the sonic environment to include spatial information aimed at trigonometry. The next stage is to provide interactive user control. Our system is based on a user interface model in order to consider the cognitive issues involved. We use Microsoft's XNA/XACT environment to create our auditory scene. In this paper we discuss how to implement sonic‐based user interaction while further simplifying our auditory scene. In order to achieve this, we examine the potential of human echolocation to orient within the virtual walls and corners of a triangle.

Sound Partner

Sound Partner Benjamin Wright William Whittington. Sound Design & Science Fiction. University of Texas Press, 2007. 280 pages; $22.95 paper. “Sound is half the picture.” It may be a cliché, but it reminds us that cinema studies are incomplete without attention to the sensuously immersive and sometimes noisy partner to the image. With this in mind, Sound Design & Science Fiction is among a small group of recent books that seek to establish a vocabulary and framework for future studies. The book’s central argument addresses the changing dynamics of film technology and practice since the collapse of the old studio system in the 1960s. William Whittington traces the emergence and transformation of sonic design in Hollywood science-fiction cinema by investigating the interrelated technological, historical, aesthetic, and generic factors that have reshaped the sound track and its relationship to movie production and exhibition. The multi-discursive approach to film technology and aesthetics is driven by close interpretive readings of seven science-fiction pictures, with the aim of setting in relief the complexity, ubiquity, and value of sound in contemporary cinema. “Sound design” is a term that underscores the creative duties of its editors. Defined several different ways by the author, it not only relates to the creation of specific effects but also to the general design of the sound track at the levels of production and exhibition. Whittington uses this complex understanding of the term to investigate ideology, production practices, and technology in films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), THX 1138 (1971), Star Wars (1977), Blade Runner (1982), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and The Matrix (1999). In a loosely chronological survey of these photodramas, each chapter investigates one aspect of the sound track—voice, music, ambiences, Foley, the mix process, and exhibition in the theater and home—and supports each feature with a close reading of one title. Concentrating on just science-fiction films affords a more flexible analysis, primarily because science fiction foregrounds technological innovation in both the subject matter and the audiovisual apparatus. For instance, while 2001: A Space Odyssey challenged image-sound relations with its unconventional use of classical music to complement futuristic images, Star Wars pioneered the use of Dolby Stereo in film to broaden dynamic range and sharpen aural detail. According to Whittington, with Star Wars, an entire sonic environment was created to, ironically, ground the narrative in a believable, “realistic” manner. Alternatively, THX 1138 purposely avoids sonic realism by exaggerating its soundscape to reflect the states of mind of the imprisoned characters. In a fascinating account of the process of “sound montage” in THX 1138— a term coined by editor Walter Murch—Whittington offers a novel account of how complex mixing strategies initially began with the break up of the old studio system and subsequent dismantlement of sound libraries and mixing facilities. Challenging union authority and classical Hollywood editing hierarchies, director George Lucas and producer Francis Ford Coppola moved their production facilities to San Francisco to complete production of THX. In doing so, the film set a new standard for the use of effects and music in cinema by treating ambiences and Foley effects as integral and substantive aspects of the audiovisual experience. By extension, the analysis of Blade Runner—the original theatrical version and the 1992 Director’s Cut—deftly explores the ideological differences between the use of voice-over in the former and the complete removal of it in the latter. Click for larger view View full resolution One of the book’s strongest assets is its fresh exploration of film theory in relation to sonic design in contemporary cinema. A key distinction is made between the sound track as a “captured” event and a “construction.” Indeed, sound effects in the sciencefiction genre must be evaluated “not simply in terms of capture achieved through the recording process but as constructions, which are in fact mediated by recording [End Page 96] technology and aesthetic choices” (95). Several studies of the classical Hollywood sound track have already suggested that sound is, more or less, a representation of reality, not an original event. Production considerations including the rise of multitrack recording and re-recording involving volume adjustment and filtering have led to...

Effects of auditory information consistency and room acoustic cues on presence in virtual environments

The influence of room acoustic cues and the consistency between sound information and sound specialization on the sense of presence within an auditory virtual environment has been explored. Presence is to great extent determined by spatial factors in sonic environments but as in the case of realism, source information or source content also is a crucial component of presence. It was observed that the addition of room acoustic cues resulted in higher presence ratings. The effect can be explained by the fact that adding reverb increases externalization in headphone-based systems, which in turn is believed to increase naturalness and presence. Significant effect can be observed, when comparing the increases in presence when adding room acoustic cues and altering the type of sound source. This suggests that a good sound design, which is consistent with the dynamics of the specialization, can be beneficial as increasing the quality of the specialization.

DubDubDub: Improvisation using the sounds of the World Wide Web

DubDubDub was an educational project conducted by staff at Egerton High School, Manchester Metropolitan University and UCan.tv. It introduced a new type of musical instrument to the classroom, the DubDubDub player, which developed pupils' musical performance and improvisation skills by using the sonic environment of the Internet. Users of DubDubDub remixed the sonic content of the Internet, arranged sounds and prioritised them in real time to form new musical works. The name DubDubDub references the three w's of internet URLs: <ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www">http://www</ext-link>. The musical improvisations generated by DubDubDub can be combined with other instruments, as illustrated during DubDubDub's first performance at the Discourse, Power and Resistance conference (hosted by the University of Plymouth and Manchester Metropolitan University on 21 April 2006). This paper reflects on the development of DubDubDub and this first performance, providing an insight into how technologies can facilitate new models of musical performance and improvisation that may be beneficial for educational application.

Commentary: Noise Measurements and Rail Traffic Development: A Swedish Case Study

Public involvement in the planning process is a prerequisite for democratic outcomes. Environmental issues regarding impacts of sound tend to be limited to mere exercises in noise estimation and guideline values. Such information is difficult for the layman to understand, and such a lack of understanding produces shortcomings in the democratic process. In addition to decibel calculations interpretable by experts, the sonic environment also can be described in more accessible ways. This article reports on a concrete planning case, the widening of the railway through Akarp in southern Sweden, where the usual calculations of equivalent noise and maximum noise are undergoing critical analysis. In order to complement the noise description, a new measurement has been devised, “high noise time,” which is equal to the total time per 24 hours in which trains pass through a place without stopping. The frequency and duration of the passing of trains may be a better measure of disturbance than the maximum noise peak per passage or the equivalent (average) noise level distributed over 24 hours. Film technology also has been developed as a method for recording the frequency and duration of train passage.Environmental Practice 9:119–127 (2007)

Categorization of environmental sounds.

This paper investigates the way in which people categorize environmental sounds in their everyday lives. Previous research has shown that isolated environmental sounds are categorized on the basis of high-level semantic features when the sounds can be attributed to specific sound sources. However, in the presence of numerous sound sources, as occur in most real-world situations, the process of source identification is often hindered. In the present study, a free categorization task with open-ended verbal descriptions was used to investigate auditory categories for environmental sounds in complex real-world sonic environments. Two main categories emerged from the free-sort, reflecting the absence or presence of human activity in relation to hedonic judgments. At a subordinate level, subcategories were mediated by the participant's reported interactions with the environment through socialized activities. The spontaneous verbal descriptors collected were successful in discriminating categories. These findings indicate that complex environmental sounds are processed and categorized as meaningful events providing relevant information about the environment. The relevance of situational factors in categorization and the notion of auditory category in its relation to linguistic labeling are then discussed.

DubDubDub: Improvisation using the sounds of the World Wide Web

DubDubDub was an educational project conducted by staff at Egerton High School, Manchester Metropolitan University and UCan.tv. It introduced a new type of musical instrument to the classroom, the DubDubDub player, which developed pupils’ musical performance and improvisation skills by using the sonic environment of the Internet. Users of DubDubDub remixed the sonic content of the Internet, arranged sounds and prioritised them in real time to form new musical works. The name DubDubDub references the three ‘w’s of internet URLs: http://www. The musical improvisations generated by DubDubDub can be combined with other instruments, as illustrated during DubDubDub’s first performance at the Discourse, Power and Resistance conference (hosted by the University of Plymouth and Manchester Metropolitan University on 21 April 2006). This paper reflects on the development of DubDubDub and this first performance, providing an insight into how technologies can facilitate new models of musical performance and improvisation that may be beneficial for educational application.

Outside the Black Box: Sound Design in Non-theatre Contexts

Sound Design provides the opportunity to reshape people’s perception of reality by altering the sonic environment of a particular place or situation. The most conventional example today is the sound design of a film or theatre production. Sound, broadly speaking, is used in these contexts to underscore the emotional temperature of any given moment as well as to provide sign posts to key aspects of the narrative or other structural elements. The sound design may draw attention to the emergence of important characters or events or it may designate time and place.

Signalling through acoustic windows: nightingales avoid interspecific competition by short-term adjustment of song timing

The function of bird song is closely linked to sexual selection through female choice and male-male competition, and thus variation in communication success is likely to have major fitness consequences for a singing male. A crucial constraint on signal transmission is imposed by background noise, which may include songs from other species. I investigated whether singing nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) avoid temporal overlap with the songs of other bird species in a playback experiment. I analysed the temporal song patterns of six males, each of which were exposed to songs of other species. The nightingales significantly avoided overlapping their songs with the playback songs, and started singing preferentially during the silent intervals between the heterospecific songs. This timing of song onset produced a greater variability in pause duration compared to the nightingales' undisturbed solo singing. These findings suggest that birds adjust their song timing to avoid acoustic interference on short temporal scales, and thus are able to improve the efficiency of acoustic communication in complex sonic environments. Moreover, the results indicate that temporal song patterns can be affected by the songs of other species, and thus such influences should be taken into account when studying bird song in the field.

Perfect Listening: Audiophilia, Ambiguity, and the Reduction of the Arbitrary

In the increasingly demanding sonic environment of contemporary urban life, consumers-now we are all consumers, of even our own experiences-have developed various strategies for maintaining at least an illusion of control over what they hear and how they hear it. What I am interested in is the particular activity of audiophilia, the ardent pursuit of high-fidelity sound reproduction, and its place within the larger field of the reception of music in contemporary American culture,1 as a means of understanding something about the nature of commodity aesthetics and the way in which certain consumers re-empower themselves by full immersion in the conditions of their profoundly mediated acoustic worlds. Audiophilia depends upon reducing sonic arbitrariness to the point where communication can take place in what Niklas Luhmann in his writings on art and social systems calls the medium of meaning [Sinn] (Art 2-52). All sound reproduction operates by reducing arbitrariness in the acoustic field, in which noise is exactly the arbitrary, and hence meaningless, state of vastly possible sound. A meaningful musical event is constituted by reproducing a relatively narrow range of sounds in predetermined ways. The audiophile, however, typically invests his faith in the idea that once noise has been excluded from the listening experience, his high-fidelity playback equipment can, by transmitting an informationrich signal, most nearly ideally reproduce/recapture/recreate an originary event, providing the fullest sense of being, thus the greatest pleasure. The audiophile, although he2 claims to pursue the absolute sound, the perfect reproduction of an originary event using expensive and laborintensive electronic equipment,3 is, I argue, actually trying to over-reduce both a real and imagined initial chaos to a knowable state in which he can exercise domination and thereby reduce his existential anxiety. Audiophilia resembles many of our other relationships with modern technology-automobiles, computers, cell phones, or televisions are not merely tools for more easily accomplishing traditional human tasks but generators of uniquely modern experience -but it might be more instructive to think about how audiophilous experience illuminates the relationship between observers and art, pointing to the observer's role in the creation of aesthetic quasiobjects.4 Luhmann sees art as the mediation between perception (the operation of the individual psychic system) and communication (the operation of the social system) (Art 2-52). When we discuss audiophilia, we are concerned with a system within the larger system of art. How audiophilia functions as a (sub)system and ideological quasiobject within the social system of art must address the relationship among the recording artists, the engineers, the producers, the composers, the marketers, the critics, the recording and playback technology, the conditions of composition, the site at which the recording was produced, the site(s) at which it is reproduced, and the audiophile listener's unique physical and psychic condition. This autological network of operations becomes what Luhmann, borrowing from biological research by Maturana and Varela, terms an autopoietic system, i.e., a system that is self-generating, self-perpetuating, and operatively closed but structurally coupled with the environment.5 Autopoietic systems are marked by recursiveness and reflexivity. By this standard, audiophilia-indeed, all ideology-is autopoietic. One reason it is useful to look at connoisseur pursuits such as audiophilia as a system rather than simply a social phenomenon or a psychological disorder6 is that doing so leads us to consider the reproduction of sound as a quasi-object of the audiophile's reactionary ideology of strong knowing through ultra-mimesis, which is called into question by the very activity of his specialized listening. By considering this paradox, we can begin to understand how the form of this experience determines and is determined by its place in American consumer culture. …

Recomposition of the urban sonic environment

Acoustics‐related considerations are taken to be secondary in most of the design processes of public places. This fact always leads to an unpredictable noise and urban sonic environment around such spaces. Studies have shown the importance of the noise and the quality of the urban sonic environment in the social practice and in the daily use of public places. These places strongly mark the degree of dynamism of the urban structure of our cities and are often subjected to a very complex situation of noise nuisance. The main aim of the study is to introduce a source of noise that might have an effect of recomposing positively a deficient sonic environment of such places. This approach is also to try to restore the sound in its utilitarian and practical function and to articulate the perception of the spatial and temporal aspects of the public place. It could be an element of transforming urban noise into a peaceful soundscape. A fountain turned out to be that sonic source and it can be easily introduced in the urban environment around the public places. It is a sort of urban instrumentation used in order to recompose or requalify an urban noise environment.

New approach to studying traffic noise nuisance

More often the problem of noise and sonic pollution particularly in urban sites, is studied by different disciplines such as physics, acoustics, psychoacoustics, medicine, and others. Some studies are carried out in laboratories taking noise and sonic phenomena as samples cut off from their realistic context. Urban noise is studied as well by making abstraction of the different contextual parameters by idealizing a rather complex sonic environment. This derives often on incompatible results that can hardly be used in real situations of urban noise problems. The noise, according to this present approach, is supposed to react with the surrounding space, and it takes the form and the quality of the place by defining and requalifying it. It is found that the contextual aspects such as social, cultural, or even symbolic dimensions modulate the listening and the perception quality of the noise. The multiparameter dimension study of the noise in urban context is necessary. The small number of studies already done based on such multidisciplinary approach and the results that came out of such studies comfort well our effort and are very encouraging to go ahead with this methodological approach.

Vis‐a‐vis: Reading texts in real‐time

This presentation addresses the formal and psychological aspects of Vis‐a‐vis as a way of framing the attitude of the technology itself. Based on a text by Rilke, the work situates a solo singer within a dense sonic landscape whose electronic sounds are based entirely on her voice. The interactive score, written in MaxMSP, makes the computer a virtual performer, listening and responding to the changing musical events in its own terms. In this new 5.1 mix a variety of real‐time processes are used on the voice, shifting from scene to scene, according to the tone of the text. Among the real‐time processes used are spectral analysis/resynthesis, granular sampling, harmonization, frequency shifting, and envelope tracking, among others. In Vis‐a‐vis the computer functions like a virtual performer, listening to the changing musical events phrasing, dynamics, and register of the singer, and responds accordingly, in its own terms. The point is to capture something of the improvisatory spirit that is part of any live performance, and to create an environment in which the singer and computer can interact as a duo, responding to each other’s musical decisions in an immersive sonic environment.

Soundscape analysis and acoustical design strategies for an urban village development

Overall establishment of an acoustical landscape (soundscape) would be the fundamental source of sonic information that is useful in initiating urban design and planning strategies. A soundscape analysis was conducted in conjunction with an urban transportation and community design project targeting the western section of Gainesville, FL. The community was acoustically characterized and analyzed by means of quantitative measurements and qualitative assessments by observation. The measurements included instantaneous, 1‐min short‐term and 24‐h long‐term measurements. The parameters involved in these measurements are A‐weighted average Lp, Leq, Lmax, Lmin, and LDN. The overall sonic environment of the community as well as the types of sounds that are desirable and noises that are not desireble in the existing and future contexts were identified. The results showed that the community was dominated mostly by traffic noise from several major thoroughfares and by occasional fire alarm noise. Finally, methods or strategies to reduce, buffer, and mitigate the undesirable sounds and to preserve the desirable sounds were suggested. The addition of new characteristics to the soundscape, such as people activity sounds and ‘‘natural’’ sounds, were also proposed. The application of acoustical urban design strategies to the specifically proposed urban transportation design plans was further analyzed.

A Place for Sound: Raising Children's Awareness of their Sonic Environment

This paper reports on an experiential project that involved a group of children aged four to five years and their teachers in an investigation of sounds in their local environment. It describes the key elements of an eight-week teaching and learning program that encouraged children to experience and re-experience their surrounding sound environments through a variety of listening tasks, ‘sound walks’ and reflective art-making. Informed by diverse disciplines such as acoustic ecology (Schafer, 1992), music education (Dilkes, 1998) and environmental education (Palmer, 1998), this project aimed to make the ‘sounds of place’ explicit, to illuminate children's understandings of sound and to document these early experiences. The key questions asked were, ‘Are young children motivated to investigate sounds in their local environment and, if so, how can the teacher support this process?’ Data was collected in the form of digital audio recordings, written ‘listening lists’, child interviews, a project booklet, photographs and children's artworks. This study provides guidance for early childhood educators who wish to incorporate the ‘sounds of place’ within a multi-sensory program, so as to assist children to make a deeper connection with their surrounding environment.

Auracle: a voice-controlled, networked sound instrument

Auracle is a voice-controlled, networked sound instrument that enables users to control a software synthesizer with their voice and to interact with each other in real time over the Internet. This paper discusses the historical background of the project, beginning with Neuhaus' ‘virtual aural spaces’ in the 1960s and relating them to Barbosa's conception of ‘shared sonic environments’. The architecture of the system is described in detail, including the multi-level analysis of vocal input, the communication of that analysis data across the network, and the mapping of that data onto a software synthesizer.Not only is Auracle itself a collaborative, networked instrument, but it was developed through a collaborative, networked process. The project's development mechanisms are examined, including the use of existing tools for distributed development, the creation of custom development applications, the adoption of extreme programming practices, and the use of Auracle itself as a means for communication and collaboration among developers.

Sounds Like City

Our cultural climate is increasingly dependent upon visual space. Media and communication for the most part are exemplified through television and the Internet. Aural space has, for the moment, become an ambient presence. The aim of this article is to develop a phenomenological approach to interpreting our sonic environment by drawing upon a range of sound-scape theorists. I will, in some cases, provide a counter-argument to established theses, and in doing so endeavour to open up fresh debate for future sonic enterprises.

Reeds: a responsive environmental sound installation

This article discusses the responsive sound installation Reeds. The Reeds project was commissioned by the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 2000, and first exhibited in November and December of that year on the Ornamental Lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. It consists of twenty-one large floating sculptures, modelled to represent clusters of river reeds in immaculate man-made plantings. Each reed pod contains a collection of electronics for either the gathering of weather information or the reception and dispersion of sound. The sound installation gathered data from two real-time weather stations, and produced eight channels of musical output by interpreting the machine unit pulses of the weather data as pulse inputs to Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) algorithms. The Reeds project focused on a consideration of multiple streams of chaotic and constantly varying sound. I was interested in exploring whether the sonic environment would remain homogenous even though, unlike a musical ensemble, the control inputs varied randomly and independently of each other. The sound installation was site specific, reflecting directly upon the environment it inhabited, both in terms of its visual quality, and aesthetic of the sound.