A soundscape is the acoustic

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ranging from urban design to

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

. An important distinction is to separate soundscape from the broader acoustic environment. The acoustic environment is the combination of all the acoustic resources, natural and artificial, within a given area as modified by the environment. The

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in A ...

(ISO) standardized these definitions in 2014.
ISO 12913-1:2014
A soundscape is a

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive

. The study of soundscape is the subject of

acoustic ecology Acoustic ecology, sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape studies, is a discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment. Acoustic ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Mur ...

or soundscape ecology. The idea of soundscape refers to both the natural acoustic environment, consisting of natural sounds, including

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...

vocalizations, the collective habitat expression of which is now referred to as the

biophony Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic relationships between living organisms, human and other, and their environment, whether the organisms are marine or terrestrial. First appearing in the ''Handbook for Acoustic Ecology'' edited by Ba ...

, and, for instance, the sounds of

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

and other natural elements, now referred to as the geophony; and environmental sounds created by humans, the

anthropophony Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic relationships between living organisms, human and other, and their environment, whether the organisms are marine or terrestrial. First appearing in the ''Handbook for Acoustic Ecology'' edited by Ba ...

through a sub-set called controlled sound, such as

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

, and language, work, and sounds of mechanical origin resulting from use of industrial technology. Crucially, the term soundscape also includes the listener's ''perception'' of sounds heard as an environment: "how that environment is understood by those living within it" and therefore mediates their relations. The disruption of these acoustic environments results in

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mai ...

. The term "soundscape" can also refer to an

audio recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording t ...

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

of sounds that create the sensation of experiencing a particular acoustic environment, or compositions created using the found sounds of an acoustic environment, either exclusively or in conjunction with musical performances.

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

, composer of post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

electronic art music, defined the term "soundscape" as "All of the waveforms faithfully transmitted to our audio cortex by the ear and its mechanisms".

Historical context

The origin of the term soundscape is somewhat ambiguous. It is often miscredited as having been coined by Canadian composer and naturalist, R. Murray Schafer, who indeed led much of the groundbreaking work on the subject from the 1960s and onwards. According to an interview with Schafer published in 2013 Schafer himself attributes the term to city planner Michael Southworth. Southworth, a former student of Kevin Lynch, led a project in Boston in the 1960s, and reported the findings in a paper entitled "The Sonic Environment of Cities", in 1969, where the term is used. To complicate matters, however, a search i
Google NGram
reveals that soundscape had been used in other publications prior to this. More research is needed to establish the historical background in detail. Around the same time as Southworth's project in Boston, Schafer initiated the World Soundscape Project together with colleagues like Barry Truax and Hildegard Westerkamp. Schafer subsequently collected the findings from the world soundscape project and fleshed out the soundscape concept in more detail in his seminal work about the sound environment, "Tuning of the World". Schafer has also used the concept in music education.

In music

In music, soundscape compositions are often a form of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

, or

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instru ...

. Composers who use soundscapes include real-time granular synthesis pioneer

Barry Truax Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian composer who specializes in real-time implementations of granular synthesis, often of sampled sounds, and soundscapes. He is credited with developing the first ever implementation of real-time granular s ...

, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Luc Ferrari, whose ''Presque rien, numéro 1'' (1970) is an early soundscape composition. Soundscape composer Petri Kuljuntausta has created soundscape compositions from the sounds of sky dome and

Aurora Borealis An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

and deep sea underwater recordings, and a work entitled " Charm of Sound" to be performed at the extreme environment of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

's moon

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

. The work landed on the ground of Titan in 2005 after traveling inside the spacecraft '' Huygens'' over seven years and four billion kilometres through space.

Irv Teibel Irving Solomon "Irv" Teibel (October 9, 1938 – October 28, 2010) was an American field recordist, graphic designer, and photographer. His company, Syntonic Research, Inc., is best known for its influential ''environments'' psychoacoustic recor ...

's '' Environments series'' (1969–79) consisted of 30-minute, uninterrupted environmental soundscapes and synthesized or processed versions of natural sound. Music soundscapes can also be generated by automated software methods, such as the experimental TAPESTREA application, a framework for sound design and soundscape composition, and others. The soundscape is often the subject of mimicry in timbre-centered music such as

Tuvan throat singing Tuvan throat singing, the main technique of which is known as ''khoomei'' ( tyv, хөөмей, xöömej, mn, хөөмий; ᠬᠦᠭᠡᠮᠡᠢ, khöömii, russian: хоомей, Chinese: 呼麦, pinyin: ''hūmài''), includes a type of overt ...

. The process of Timbral Listening is used to interpret the timbre of the soundscape. This timbre is mimicked and reproduced using the voice or rich harmonic producing instruments.

The environment

In Schafer's analysis, there are two distinct soundscapes, "hi-fi" and "lo-fi", created by the environment. A hi-fi system possesses a positive

signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in de ...

. These settings make it possible for discrete

s to be heard clearly since there is no background noise to obstruct even the smallest disturbance. A rural landscape offers more hi-fi

frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is e ...

than a city because the

natural landscape A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture. The natural landscape and the cultural landscape are separate parts of the landscape. However, in the 21st century, landscapes that are totally ...

creates an opportunity to hear incidences from nearby and afar. In a lo-fi soundscape, signals are obscured by too many sounds, and perspective is lost within the broad-band of noises. In lo-fi soundscapes everything is very close and compact. A person can only listen to immediate encounters; in most cases even ordinary sounds have to be exuberantly amplified in order to be heard. All sounds are unique in nature. They occur at one time in one place and cannot be replicated. In fact, it is physically impossible for

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

to reproduce any phoneme twice in exactly the same manner. According to Schafer there are three main elements of the soundscape: *

Keynote A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

sounds : This is a musical term that identifies the key of a piece, not always audible ... the key might stray from the original, but it will return. The keynote sounds may not always be heard consciously, but they "outline the character of the people living there" (Schafer). They are created by nature (geography and climate): wind, water, forests, plains, birds, insects, animals. In many urban areas, traffic has become the keynote sound. * Sound signals : These are foreground sounds, which are listened to consciously; examples would be warning devices, bells, whistles, horns, sirens, etc. * Soundmark : This is derived from the term ''

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

''. A soundmark is a sound which is unique to an area. In his 1977 book, ''The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World'', Schafer wrote, "Once a Soundmark has been identified, it deserves to be protected, for soundmarks make the acoustic life of a community unique." The elements have been further defined as to essential sources: Bernie Krause, naturalist and soundscape ecologist, redefined the sources of sound in terms of their three main components: geophony, biophony, and anthropophony. * Geophony : Consisting of the prefix, geo (gr. earth), and phon (gr. sound), this refers to the soundscape sources that are generated by non-biological natural sources such as wind in the trees, water in a stream or waves at the ocean, and earth movement, the first sounds heard on earth by any sound-sentient organism. *

Biophony Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic relationships between living organisms, human and other, and their environment, whether the organisms are marine or terrestrial. First appearing in the ''Handbook for Acoustic Ecology'' edited by Ba ...

: Consisting of the prefix, bio (gr. life) and the suffix for sound, this term refers to all of the non-human, non-domestic biological soundscape sources of sound. *

Anthropophony Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic relationships between living organisms, human and other, and their environment, whether the organisms are marine or terrestrial. First appearing in the ''Handbook for Acoustic Ecology'' edited by Ba ...

: Consisting of the prefix, anthro (gr. human), this term refers to all of the sound signatures generated by humans.

In health care

Research has traditionally focused mostly on the negative effects of sound on human beings, as in exposure to

environmental noise Environmental noise is an accumulation of noise pollution that occurs outside. This noise can be caused by transport, industrial, and recreational activities. Noise is frequently described as 'unwanted sound'. Within this context, environmenta ...

. Noise has been shown to correlate with health-related problems like stress, reduced sleep and cardiovascular disease. More recently however, it has also been shown that some sounds, like sounds of nature and music, can have positive effects on health. While the negative effects of sound has been widely acknowledged by organizations like EU ( END 2002/49) and WHO
Burden of noise disease
, the positive effects have as yet received less attention. The positive effects of nature sounds can be acknowledged in everyday planning of urban and rural environments, as well as in specific health treatment situations, like nature-based sound therapy and nature-based rehabilitation. Soundscapes from a computerized acoustic device with a camera may also offer synthetic vision to the blind, utilizing

human echolocation Human echolocation is the ability of humans to detect objects in their environment by sensing echoes from those objects, by actively creating sounds: for example, by tapping their canes, lightly stomping their foot, snapping their fingers, or maki ...

, as is the goal of the seeing with sound project.

Soundscapes and noise pollution

Papers on noise pollution are increasingly taking a holistic, soundscape approach to noise control. Whereas acoustics tends to rely on lab measurements and individual acoustic characteristics of cars and so on, soundscape takes a top-down approach. Drawing on

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...

's ideas of the whole world as composition, soundscape researchers investigate people's attitudes to soundscapes as a whole rather than individual aspects – and look at how the entire environment can be changed to be more pleasing to the ear. This body of knowledge approaches the sonic environment subjectively as well, as in how some sounds are tolerated while others disdained, with still others preferred, as seen in Fong's 2016 research comparing the soundscapes of Bangkok, Thailand and Los Angeles, California. To respond to unwanted sounds, however, a typical application of this is the use of masking strategies, as in the use of water features to cover unwanted white noise from traffic. It has been shown that masking can work in some cases, but that the successful outcome is dependent on several factors, like sound pressure levels, orientation of the sources, and character of the water sound. Research has shown that variation is an important factor to consider, as a varied soundscape give people the possibility to seek out their favorite environment depending on preference, mood and other factors. One way to ensure variation is to work with " quiet areas" in urban situations. It has been suggested that people's opportunity to access quiet, natural places in urban areas can be enhanced by improving the ecological quality of

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces ar ...

s through targeted planning and design and that in turn has psychological benefits. Soundscaping as a method to reducing noise pollution incorporates natural elements rather than just man made elements. Soundscapes can be designed by urban planners and landscape architects. By incorporating knowledge of soundscapes in their work, certain sounds can be enhanced, while others can be reduced or controlled. It has been argued that there are three main ways in which soundscapes can be designed: localization of functions, reduction of unwanted sounds and introduction of wanted sounds, each of which should be considered to ensure a comprehensive approach to soundscape design.

In United States National Parks

The National Park Service Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division actively protects the soundscapes and acoustic environments in national parks across the country. It is important to distinguish and define certain key terms as used by the National Park Service. ''Acoustic resources'' are physical sound sources, including both natural sounds (wind, water, wildlife, vegetation) and cultural and historic sounds (battle reenactments, tribal ceremonies, quiet reverence). The ''acoustic environment'' is the combination of all the acoustic resources within a given area – natural sounds and human-caused sounds – as modified by the environment. The acoustic environment includes sound vibrations made by geological processes, biological activity, and even sounds that are inaudible to most humans, such as bat echolocation calls. ''Soundscape'' is the component of the acoustic environment that can be perceived and comprehended by the humans. The character and quality of the soundscape influence human perceptions of an area, providing a sense of place that differentiates it from other regions. ''Noise'' refers to sound which is unwanted, either because of its effects on humans and wildlife, or its interference with the perception or detection of other sounds. ''Cultural soundscapes'' include opportunities for appropriate transmission of cultural and historic sounds that are fundamental components of the purposes and values for which the parks were established. * Sounds recorded in national parks * Yellowstone National Park Sound LibraryYellowstone National Park Sound Library
/ref>

References

External links

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE)''Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology''
published by WFAE
How Sound Affects Us
(8:18)— TED talk by Julian Treasure
Napolisoundscape Urban Space Research
Web archive of the audio mapping of the city of Naples
SonorCities: Learning Culture through City Soundscapes – An Educational Tool
{{Authority control Experimental music Sound Hearing