4.0. Solo Sensory Walking and Reflections
- The videos above capture snippets of sound recordings collected during my soundwalk study in July and August.
- The aim here is to find a general acoustic pattern in my neighborhood soundscape (repetition) and identify how it varies during different times of the day (variation).
- During the
- walk, I pay attention to macro as well as micro sounds.
Macro sounds are almost always present in the background, and are heard from almost everywhere in the neighbourhood: sounds from automobiles, transit vehicles, traffic signals, construction sites, etc.
Micro sounds are localized and not always audible: sounds from wind-chimes, a water fountain in a front yard, or sounds from social activities such as a garage sale or children playing in a cul-de-sac, etc.
- I repeated the soundwalk over a few days in July and August and at 3 different times of the day:
Morning: Between 9 and 11am
Afternoon: Between 2 and 4pm
Evening: Between 8 and 9:30pm
Reflections:
The July-August morning in my neighbourhood starts with a soundscape dominated by external traffic sound and construction sounds. The traffic is far away, somewhere outside the neighbourhood boundary but somehow it creates a gigantic sounddome. Ocassionally penetrating that sound dome, are sounds of birds. One can hear the cardinals, the robins, the nuthatches and the cicadas if they are close by on the trees. On a windy morning, however, those birds' sounds also disappear and are overshadowed by the sound of the wind.
As the day progresses and the morning turns into hot afternoons, the soundscape also changes. Now what I hear is a lot of internal traffic sounds, one after another. The traffic is now inside the neighbourhood unlike in the mornings when they were outside the neighbourhood boundary. Are the residents coming back home from work? The construction sound gradually subsides. Crows and Blue jays take over the micro soundscape. I can hear neighbours talking to each other from their driveways.
With the sunset, the neighbourhood gets quieter. There is no construction sound and the traffic sound is also much less. Other than ocassional home-returning vehicles, the neighbourhood is quiet. What takes over the soundscape is the sound of HVAC systems (Air Conditioners) running in every household in the neighbourhood. This sound is inaudible during the daytime. In some places on the street, the sound of cricket is pleasantly overpowering. I listen to them. Their sound reminds me of nighttime for sure. Through the constant sound of the HVAC system, there is one sound that never misses my ear when I pass by the house at 1203 Halsey Lane. Once, twice and it continues to reach me at a constant frequency. It is a mechanical sound that comes from the house, perhaps from the garage of the house. I do not hear it in the daytime but it is loud and clear during the silence of the night. It is this house's soundmark. One more sound that heard for the first time in my 13 years' of residency in this neighbourhood was the sound of the sewage water running underneath Abbey Road. To my surprise during an evening soundwalk, I suddenly heard the sound of highspeed running water. The night was very quiet and sounds that were inaudible during the day suddenly revealed themselves during the silence of the night. I call this the soundmark of Abbey Road.
1.0. Theoretical Concept:
In his seminal work 'The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment' (1977) ‘The Acoustic Community’, Raymond M. Schafer discusses the concept of 'Acoustic Community' and suggests that such a community can be formed with equal integrity as in the case of political, social, geographical or religious community, along acoustic lines.
In such communities, a sense of connection and solidarity is created through the collective understanding of the soundscape’s boundary, its repetitive acoustic characteristics and variations within it indicating changes. By attuning to the sounds that surround them in their everyday lives, members of these communities develop a sense of place where they live and become aware of their citizenship within their neighbourhoods.
Taking inspirations from Schafer’s concept of acoustic community, I am conducting soundwalks on different streets in my neighbourhood at different times of the day a few days per week.
I envision it being a year-long project in which I will conduct monthly soundwalks to identify repetition and variation in the soundscape by different periods of the day, by month, and by season.
Reference:
Schafer, R. Murray. (1977). “The Acoustic Community”, in Schafer, R. Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, Rochester: Destiny Books (pp 214- 225)
2.0. Acoustic Community Characterised by
Repetition in soundscape - repeat the soundwalk on the same street, same time for a few days. What macro and micro sounds do you hear? Is there a pattern?
Variation in Soundscape - How does the soundscape vary from morning to afternoon to evening?
Soundmarks - Do you hear a sound every time you pass by a house or a specific segment of the street? It is that site's soundmark.
Soundscape Boundary: Do you have a church or a school in your neighbourhood? How far out do you need to go from your neighbourhood before you can no longer hear the sound of the church bell or the school bell?
