From noise to soundscape composition: Artistic and social scientific dimensions of acoustic ecology

This paper examines research on sound in public spaces based on a case study of a project that has been underway for over forty years. The paper analyses the transformation of the attitudes of participants (community activists, researchers and musicians) from a preoccupation with documenting (and resisting) noise pollution at the origins of the movement, to the development of new ways of characterizing ‘sonic environments’, and creative uses of soundscape recordings as a community resource for documenting intangible cultural heritage and promoting new ways of listening. The paper draws on interviews with participants in the World Soundscape Project (WSP), written documentation and a collection of recordings that has been maintained by the Sonic Research Laboratory (in British Columbia, Canada) since 1971. The WSP grew out of concerns about noise but rapidly evolved into a study of disappearing sonic memories of the world and a resource for creative projects in sound design and electro-acoustic music composition.

The paper examines changing value systems of participants about what constitutes a sound worth documenting as well as their work on theories of acoustic ecology. The Sonic Research Lab researchers recognized that ‘authentic’ recordings of the audible dimensions of community life could not all be documented by ‘naturalistic’ recording of ‘found sounds’. They sought new ways of representing changing sonic environments and worked to heighten public awareness of sound as a dimension of the lived experience of community life (with outdoor performances, sonic art installations and guided ‘soundwalks’).  In the process soundscape composition emerged as a hybrid musical genre, combining social scientific and artistic goals.

 The paper will conclude with a critical analysis of the authenticity of soundscape recordings as affordances for apprehending the lived experience of sound and for accessing memories of the ‘audible past’ and the acoustic ecology of community life more generally.