Category: Sound and Aural Cultures

The National Library began archiving sound in 1983. With recordings stretching back to 1878 old recording from a concert on an Edison phonograph. It’s remarkable to think that we can hear a sound that was produced in the 1800s and it is thanks to historians and archivists like The National Library that we can learn so much today.

Archiving of course tells us about historical events all the way down to societal habits through voice records and music. However, despite the historical significance it enables us to hold onto personal and intimate parts of history. 

Archives allow us to learn and reflect on ways technology has developed and the ethical morality behind the way we record. We can see what was efficient and what was not to advance new technology and methods. 

As I move forward within my own work I reflected upon the importance of archiving and realised that I felt that my own work became its own archive. When interviewing my grandma I realised that like everyone she won’t be with us forever. This gave me such a close connection towards what I was recording; allowing me extra purpose to get it truthful and correct. I began with draft recordings of normal conversations beginning with the date and time of where we were recording. Stating the date and time made my sound piece feel like a part of a time capsule.

Overall archiving will forever be important and it is critical that with developments in technology these habits of recording the past do not stop. I will take my piece forward with a sense of achievement towards archiving work, and I will keep and cherish this forever.

‘A Very British Garden’

Composed by Eleanor Anderson 

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Instructions for listening:

• Lay in a dark and silent room alone – ensuring no outside noise can bleed into the room
• Try to use the best monitors or headphones you can 
• Take into consideration the importance of surrounded sounds and what the world would be without the

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1.(A series of soundscapes from different environments)

Eleanor:   

Noise.

It’s everywhere.

As human beings in the modern world, we are constantly surrounded by noise. From the hustle and bustle of a city. 

2.(City soundscapes)

To the calm serenity of nature…

3.(Nature sounds)

Our surrounding sounds are naturally inescapable. Kids Frontiers explains that 

4.(Voice sound effects) 

“No matter how hard we try, we will never find a place that is completely silent. If something moves, it produces a sound—even if humans cannot hear it. 

5.(Various selection of sounds linked to the script)

Sounds are everywhere, all around us. The sounds we usually notice are produced by people or by things that people use. Think about road traffic or industries, for instance. Yet, nature can be very loud too!”

I want to research whether with new developments of technology and the changing of society’s habits, this is entirely true, and whether or not we should be appreciating what we have instead of choosing to 

6.(Sound effects on voice)

block it all out. 

Generally, we don’t value background noise as something “good”, and more often than not we see it as something bad. Humans love to complain about our surroundings and wish to block the noise out. (Beat)

With the new development of 

7.(Muffled EQ sound effect on voice)

noise cancellation our society is beginning to choose silence over noise. 

8.(Artificial sounds over the voice)

Sonically we are creating an artificial bubble. 

I found this fascinating and wondered why we hate the sonic atmospheres around us so much. 

9.(Synth sounds)

In reflection to this I chose to interview somebody who has had this choice taken away from them. My grandma. She began losing her hearing in 2016…

10.(Transition noise- General chatter about surroundings and garden noises)

Grandma:

What do I hear? I don’t know! It’s just nice to hear… The trickle of the water running down the waterfall. On the whole quiet but as I pointed out we haven’t got the peaceful surroundings around my home that we used to have…

11.(Back to general garden chatter)

Eleanor:

As time and technology have developed she has been able to afford a hearing aid to help her with general hearing in day-to-day life. However, without this, the world around her would feel something similar to the way we hear when we use 

12.(white noise synth sound and voice effects)

noise cancellation.

I asked her a series of questions about how she values the surroundings and what not being able to hear noise means to her.

Grandma:

13.(Garden soundscape sounds)

Familiar sounds are a fundamental part of feeling secure. Sonically we depend on our day-to-day sounds to acknowledge that you’re in mundane, yet safe surroundings; where you want to be, where you feel protected. 

14.(Background sounds with reverberation)

When the Cochlea becomes damaged, sounds sent to the brain are lost. It creates frustration and an unsettling feeling to any of its victims. When familiar sounds are taken away it can be anxiety-inducing. 

15.(Garden soundscape)

As if you’re picked up and placed somewhere completely new. One relies on surrounding noises and ambience for settlement and insight into regularity. Atmospherics are just as important as conversational sounds. Until they are lost, they are often unheard or missed by the brain.   

Eleanor:

It was refreshing to hear someone speak about sounds around us in a positive way. 

16.(Crowd noises, and surrounding sounds)

This made me realise people aren’t appreciating noise enough. Our sonic environment builds an atmosphere and tells us more about our surroundings than we realise. Where many people who suffer with hearing loss find this isolating many people who do not suffer from this strive to silence out the world for relaxation. 

In Andrew Hugill’s 2022 book ‘Aural Diversity’ he states he did a performance with people who were sonically disadvantaged and explained that….

17.(Voice sound effects)

“Many deafblind people face barriers to participation in mainstream activities… however sound became a conduit for connectivity that allowed participants, staff, and audiences to interact without the pressure of communication barriers”.

18.(Transition sound) 

Andrew talks about the connection in sound has upon people’s relationships. He highlights how noise and sound can be connective for humans. 

19.(Muffled crowd noises – then it cuts out)

Not only do we silence ourselves through noise cancellation, but we have also begun doing this architecturally. In a recent study by AQSO an interdisciplinary studio dedicated to contemporary architecture, design, urban planning & cultural research. They research soundproof planning and said that…

20.(Voice sound effects)

21.(Sound effects showing sound being absorbed)

“Loud levels of noise pollution can cause sleep disturbances, broken concentration, high stress, anxiety and even hypertension… Sound absorption is used to contain the echoes and reverberations of the sound. This strategy provides adequate indoor comfort conditions and helps also reduce external noise pollution. Materials such as fabrics, porous suspended ceilings, micro-perforated panels or soundboards are efficient ways to soundproof interiors.”

Eleanor:

Even architecturally we are slowly chasing to isolate ourselves sonically. This juxtaposes Andrew Hugill’s research which dictates the possibilities in which sound brings us together. However, studies by Karla Panuszka further this argument and explain that

22.(Voice sound effect)

“Music shows a positive effect on relationships by providing a person’s mental attitude with a happy euphoria.”

23..(water sound effects)

“Natural sounds of waterfalls, streams, and rivers also show an improved mood that enhances relationships in a positive way.”

Despite the positive effects that noise can have we are also aware of the negatives mentally. Is it just about balance? Or is it always something that should be taken into consideration. Despite my grandma’s struggles with hearing loss she still states that she needs silence to get by.

24.(garden soundscape)

Grandma:

“Well I think at certain parts of the day I would like a couple hours of absolute peace and i can get that in the house, double glazed that keeps the noise out. But I wouldn’t want to live in isolation no. But this last year it’s been horrendous we don’t have the peace in the garden that we used to because there’s a big building estate going on the opposite side of the road and we’ve had noise all year!.

Eleanor:

So it is appreciated that noise can be a burden and annoyance. However, despite certain noise being unwanted is noise cancellation still stopping us from appreciating the noise that surrounds us or are we just lucky to have the choice to choose silence. DHRME the study YouTube channel talk about the effects that sound can actually have on our physical health and the benefits of noise cancellation and what it can bring. 

Youtube Video:

25.(Transition sound)

1.YouTube Video Interview 

“Noise is actually associated with some health issues. Like cardiovascular conditions and even an increase in stress. Right! And noise-cancelling headphones might actually help because you end up listening to music at much lower volumes than you otherwise would.”

26.(Transition sound backwards)

Eleanor:

These are all effects that noise has on us in our day-to-day lives. I wanted to delve deeper and see how people were using noise and sonic environments artistically. Christine Sun Kim is a deaf sound artist who explores everyday sounds across city centres.

Christine Sun Kim:

2. Christine Sun Kim Interview

“Sound is something that I look at as a tool and I use this tool to work the system. But sound has also given me a way to kind of declare my position, my space, my way to a member of society… 

27.(Reverb transition)

and I was lucky when MIF (Manchester International Festival) reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to do something. I thought well I’m just gonna go for a moonshine. I want to caption the whole city and they said “absolutely, let’s do it!”.

28.(Synth noises edited taken from the YouTube video)

Eleanor:

As my research commenced it came as a realisation to me that people who have had the choice to listen taken away from them are the ones that are generally appreciating sound. 

29.(General noise) 

Overall to hear noise and sound is a built-in instinct. I personally believe that by slowly blocking this out, we as a society are beginning to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. It is a novelty that the likes of noise cancellation can be turned

30.(Muffled voice effect)

 on and off but we must learn to appreciate our surrounding sounds and see them as experiences rather than hindrances.

31.(voice echo)

 I will ensure that I go into my future daily life and listen with gratitude. 

32.(Synth sounds)

After all, the sound is everywhere and no matter how much technology advances naturally we can’t escape it. Sound is there to be listened to and heard, to tell us how to feel and what to feel. To make us feel safe and at home.

On that note, I want to take you back to listen to my grandmas ‘very British garden’…

33.(Garden soundscape)

THE END

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Listen to Artistic Sound Choices:

1.) (A series of soundscapes from different environments)

2.) (City soundscapes)

3.) (Nature sounds)

4.) (Voice sound effects)

5.) (Various selections of sounds linked to the script)

6.) (Sound effects on voice)

7.) (Muffled EQ sound effect on voice)

8.) (Artificial sounds over the voice)

9.) (Synth sounds)

10.) (Transition noise- General chatter about surroundings and garden noises)

11.) (Back to general garden chatter)

12.) (white noise synth sound and voice effects)

13.) (Garden soundscape sounds)

14.) (Background sounds with reverberation)

15.) (Garden soundscape)

16.) (Crowd noises, and surrounding sounds)

17.) (Voice sound effects)

18.) (Transition sound)

19.) (Muffled crowd noises – then it cuts out)

20.) (Voice sound effects)

21.) (Sound effects showing sound being absorbed)

22.) (Voice sound effect)

23.) (water sound effects)

24.) (garden soundscape)

25.) (Transition sound)

26.) (Transition sound backwards)

27.) (Reverb transition)

28.) (Synth noises edited and taken from the YouTube video)

29.) (General noise)

30.) (Muffled voice effect)

31.) (voice echo)

32.) (Synth sounds)

——————————————————————————————

Listed Sampled Sounds:

1.) YouTube Video Interview

2.) Christine Sun Kim Interview

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Research Bibliography:

Ucl (2022) Deaf awareness: Working and communicating well with deaf people (online course), UCL Ear Institute. UCL Ear Institute. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/short-courses/search-courses/deaf-awareness-working-and-communicating-well-deaf-people-online-course (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

Authors Mark D. Fletcher et al. (no date) Hear and there: Sounds from everywhere!, Frontiers for Young Minds. Kids Frontiers. Available at: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2018.00063 (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

Panuszka, K. (no date) The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America – Researchgate, Research Gate. Acoustical Society of America. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/journal/The-Journal-of-the-Acoustical-Society-of-America-0001-4966/2 (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

DHRM (2019) Is noise cancelling safe? the dangers of active noise cancelling explained | DHRME #68, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfLs9XZIi2g (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

Aqso, A.U. (2018) Architecture against noise, AQSO. AQSO. Available at: https://aqso.net/office/news/6650/architecture-against-noise (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

International, F. (no date) Captioning the city, MIF t/a Factory International. Available at: https://factoryinternational.org/whats-on/captioning-the-city/ (Accessed: November 28, 2022). 

I chose the podcast ‘Bad Vibrations’ – Sound Matters. Themes that stood out to me in this was the constant running soundscape in the background to the information given it reflected what was happening audibly and added extra value to the topic they were talking about. The podcast goes on to talk about how sound and music can affect humans physically. This is a root I 100% want to explore within my piece. I agreed with their ideas of sound affecting us mentally and I truly want to use this theme as the basis and my topics. As the podcast continues their references to similar reports added great effect in supporting their topic. Foley sounds were added on top of these stories almost to create a more realistic and immersive response. This worked extremely well as it turned information almost into storytelling; something I would definitely like to experiment with. Finally, the technique of a narrative speaker throughout also worked well. The narrative of the speaker switched from a more clear-cut voice to what sounded like an external voice giving different information. Soundscapes were put over the top of the outside narrator’s voice to create the secondary effect. Within my piece I will ensure that the information projected by me will be clear and recorded in a silent environment with just isolated vocals; in contrast to the other speaker’s vocals which will give an outside point of view.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/27-bad-vibrations/id1073135021?i=1000460529907

I will Begin with a brief question “imagining a world with no language”. The purpose of my piece is to provoke internal thinking on whether language is more important than surrounding sounds. I will be narrating information on the importance of our surrounding sounds and how it affects us mentally and physically. Throughout the entire piece, it will be entirely set in my Grandmothers garden. Surrounded sounds taken from the garden will create a woven collage soundscape. Following this piece I will play answer questions by my grandma on her experiences in the garden sonically and how it has changed/affected her through the years. This will then go into her speech about going deaf and familiar sounds. I will play around with soundscapes to create different POVs of sonically different abilities. My intentions are to immerse the listener into the point of view of a victim who is losing the ability to hear; in order to provoke a reflective emotional response. I hope to touch and reach out to people who have generally good health hearing and to make them ask themselves whether they value speech or surrounding sounds to connect themselves to the world. 

I am aware when doing this that I have to be extremely respectful to the audience I am reaching and the people who suffer from the issues I am talking about. In order of achieving this, I know that I have to be as truthful as possible in my work and the way in which I chose to edit.

Overall I hope to portray a great message about how we appreciate listening in a respectful yet meaningful way.

I created a list of foley sounds which I hope to include within my piece of work. The basis for my work is to paint an immersive soundscape set inside a British garden. With my grandmother as the protagonist; the garden is her safe haven and place for comfort. Sounds I created included gravel and soil being dug up as if in a greenhouse planting pots. Walking noises, footsteps, and hose pipes foley sounds have all been created to build and layer my garden soundscape. I will not include music within my piece as I want the entire thought process to be The proposal and information of my piece is about how soundscapes affect us and how powerful they are. With the foley sounds made and my soundscape finished I hope to make this as immersive as possible. My aim is to reach people and make them reflect on how they value their ability to hear and the importance of the sounds that surround us. 

The sounds were eventually layered together to create an artificial soundscape. However, to try and produce the most authentic sound possible I decided to take a field recorder to the set location. I avoided using studios as much as possible when recording this piece as I felt that this could only bring an artificial tone. The authenticity of being in a location made my soundscape more plausible while also inspiring me sonically with different natural surrounding noises.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed sampling my own sounds by using a Zoom H5 Digital. Equipment wise this was a lot easier to handle but also it brought a sense of truth to my piece as if I was delving into people’s lives and environments.

   

I have often been fascinated by how our sonic environment affects our physical and mental well-being. As a society, I feel that we prioritise verbal language and conversational communication to be more effective for our emotions than the environmental sonics that surrounds us. When language is broken down it is a bunch of sounds, words and phrases that have formed languages through time, and tradition.

Despite the language is beautiful, it can also become a barrier if you are not bilingual. Similar to music contrast to this the environmental sounds we hear are universal. For example, the sound of traffic will be known as traffic all over the world. I want to focus my piece on the strength of sonic environments and what it does to our sense of comfort, and anxiety. We don’t value surrounding sounds until they are taken away from us.   

I studied with Christine Sun Kim, a deaf sound artist who explores the everyday sounds across city centres. Her Work ‘Capturing The City’ focussed on the natural sounds and rhythms that you hear walking around a city. First shown at the Manchester International Festival she chose to focus her soundscape on the city of manchester itself. She appreciates the sound that surrounds her daily; despite her challenges with hearing.

I found her work inspiring towards my own work and I will research further into how and why we do not normally recognise and appreciate the sonic environments around us. It urged me to go and listen to my own environments sonically. Her approach to recognising sound inspired my work for this unit as I went around certain surroundings and collected organic and natural sounds. In the end, I built up a selection of taken sounds t create a soundscape. The work I produced reflects her instinct to highlight the surrounding sounds in day-to-day life.

Soundscape listening and – slow living – covid changing

Since the tragedy of Covid-19, the pandemic has had drastic implements on our daily lives and routine. With paces of modern society running at such a high rate speed, it felt as if life had no time to pause or breathe. Capitalism has taken a hold of the modern world and brought about a fast pace of change through every element of our normal daily lifestyles. 

I want to discuss how this has changed sonically and how we chose to listen to the surroundings around us swell as chosen automated sound. Pre-pandemic music apps such as Spotify, Soundcloud, etc gave us choices and obvious options to flick through song to song as fast as we wanted to. Unlike stereo where this took a little more doing we can now be as indecisive as we chose when it comes to what we listen to. We have complete control and power over what we hear. Despite radio being less controlled this still contributes and reflects our face pace of music by only allowing 3-minute max performances and songs; often playing what is called a ‘radio edit’. 

However, when the pandemic hit and we were forced to pause this came unnatural to our mental states and physical states. With more time in our daily routines, we found that the fast abrupt listening we have been choosing was no longer needed. Long days of no work or social life meant that our society was looking at ways to pass time rather than chase it.

“Twitter found that 56.3% of people have listened to podcasts more since the pandemic” 

Listening changed from short songs to albums and with extended minutes on the clock, this enhanced the rise of podcasts! Podcasts and audiobooks showed a rise in listeners and creators during the lockdown.

Not only has there been a rise in listeners the free time meant that more creators had time to create! With the extra option of podcasts, it is almost certain you can find a podcast on almost anything nowadays. This means that there’s niche and specific audio to connect with as many people as possible; certainly increasing the enticement to listen. 

With more free time in our daily lives, we have found a newfound way of slow living and the benefits for our mental and physical state. Podcasts have seen a rise due to this and continue to do so. 

In reflection on society’s new habits of slow living, I will incorporate this into my work piece. I will leave time for pause and though and ensure that the rhythm of my piece is not rushed. As well as connecting to societal changes of slow living through sonic listening, this also brings an emotional effect on my work.

After recently being privileged enough to visit the National Library’s – Sound Archives, this made me speculate on the way in which ethically we listen to music…

There’s no denying that modes of sound listening will continue developing as time goes on. Beginning with the Edison Phonograph in 1887 technology has not only grown mechanically but also physically in numbers. Hearing music is no longer an exclusive part of society; some could say it is in fact inescapable. Although it should be celebrated for its exclusivity, this can have alarming effects on the environment.

Vinyl bagan the swarm of mass record consumption during the 1950’s however since then it has made a recent comeback in pop culture. The aesthetics of owning and playing vinyl are glamorised and many huge artists have begun releasing their albums through the vinyl. Despite the nostalgic feel and sound of listening on record, Vinyl and its PVC materials is only bad news for the environment. Polyvinyl Chloride is a highly toxic and difficult-to-handle product It is actually the most environmentally damaging plastic to exist. The toxins released during production and disposal infect our food, air and water. These poisonous facts truly make you question how worth it, it is to listen on vinyl. 

Moving forward with the times, these moral queries don’t stop there. In 2006 the Stockholm, Sweedish company ‘Spotify’ was created. At first glimpse streaming sites seem a perfect solution to environmental well-being as well as economical and general convenience. However, with Spotify only paying the artists $0.0033 per stream, their control and moral compass begin to drop. Generators have to be continuously run for 24/7 streaming. Spotify themselves have stated 42% of its GHG emissions come from listener streaming.  

The graph shown above shows you that despite streaming sites showing a huge drop in plastic consumption the amount of greenhouse gasses caused by generating is astronomical.

As I move forward making my own work these figures have made me question the most moral way in which I will choose to present and export my work into the world. Despite our generation is fortunate enough to experience easy access to all forms of music, it is we who need to be cautious of the implications that this causes. 

Andrew Hugill is a British Composer and Academic. His recent work on his 2022 Aural Diversity presents how humans, physiological and physical build; the complexities in which we embody all affect the way we hear and listen.

His book focuses on and informs all the known hearing differences humans can adopt. 

This shows how most of us do not have “normal hearing”. I found this graph fascinating as it tells me how and why certain sounds and aesthetics sonically stand out to others. 

It is obvious and clear by the divide in genres of music that humans develop their own tastes and opinions on certain sounds throughout life. Some people find ASMR relaxing whereas others find it uncomfortable to listen to. Across the world, no human stands the same and everyone prefers different things. After researching Andrew Hugill’s work I came to the conclusion that hearing differences are a key factor in sonic diverse taste. Despite environmental and emotional attachment to certain sounds, I believe that we hear things differently from each other due to hearing differences. This will affect the physiological response that we have to certain sounds resulting in genre boundaries and other diversity in the sound world. 

I found His work fascinating and will definitely reference his studies in my own up-and-coming work regarding the way we listen.