The Manchester Pilot Study

Soundwalks: The University of Salford conducted a "morning rush hour" soundwalk of Manchester as part of Architecture Week 2007. The walk started and finished outside Urbis in Cathedral Gardens, taking in Parsonage Gardens, the banking district, St Anne's Square, Market Street and the Arndale Centre. Before the walk, participants were asked to consider their own mental maps of the city, especially looking down on the city from above versus navigating the city on foot. During the soundwalk participants were encouraged to not just think about sound, but sight, smell and touch. The walk was followed by a focused discussion with a small group of urban design professionals.

Participants' initial impressions were that the city was surprisingly quiet, despite the walk being conducted during the morning, week-day rush hour. Participants also noticed that there were quick changes to the soundscape; for example, simply turning a corner could present a completely different soundscape. There was recognition of a dominance of machinery and a lack of expected sounds such as voices, birds, the café lifestyle, and people. Participants reported feeling that frequently one sound dominated a space and they did not notice the hubbub of the city, but rather sounds with rhythm and volume such as groups of people walking seemingly in step.

Urban design professionals conceded that sound was not considered in the design process of buildings and spaces except as noise prevention and that the soundscapes outside buildings were only considered in relation to meeting noise standards inside buildings. There is also a recognised lack of green space in Manchester despite references by architects. Participants discussed the meaning of the term soundscape and their interpretations of what a positive soundscape might be.

The team is now in the process of reviewing and refining the research methodology based upon the outcomes of this study, and reviewing the regulations considered by developers for connections to sound (eg visual aesthetics, building regulations).

Lab work: The University of Warwick has undertaken a pilot study of lab-based, soundscape evaluations. The purpose of the evaluations was four-fold: (1) to determine component parts of a soundscape, (2) to determine how individuals value these components, (3) to classify types of soundscapes, and (4) to develop best practice for lab-based soundscape evaluations.

Recordings were collected from the Manchester case study area and were separated and categorised by type. Playback to the participants took place in a listening room and included audio playback both with and without visual accompaniment. All participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about what they had heard. The content of the questionnaires was then analysed and a coding scheme was developed.

Initial findings indicate that soundscape evaluations are inherently personal and are affected by what people are doing in a particular environment, that people's perceptions change over the course of a recording, and that the listening room is removed from real-life and a more interactive evaluation experience might yield more reliable results. This part of the pilot study also raised the question of whether it is easier to compare soundscapes or to give an absolute opinion of a soundscape.

In a parallel study, researchers also measured participants' physical reactions (e.g. heart rate) to recorded sound. Participants were played eight seconds of silence and eight seconds of sound and results were plotted on a graph. Although it is too early to draw initial conclusions, these tests indicate a variety of reactions across different participants, some contrary to what was expected.

Artistic interventions: The artists, based at the London College of Communication, have made numerous recordings within the Manchester pilot study area. A number of projects are being incubated and initial outputs constructed, such as Peter Cusack's recreation of St Anne's Square. Peter has developed a three-dimensional, audio reproduction of St Anne's Square that allows the user to manipulate individual sounds within the space. For example, sounds can be added, removed, give prominence or faded into the background. Sounds can also be moved to different geographical locations within the square. Peter has also developed a Favourite Sounds of Manchester questionnaire and website. Please log onto the website www.favouritemanchestersounds.org and vote for your favourite Manchester sound.

Angus Carlyle is experimenting with video and sound as site-specific art within the Manchester case study area. As part of a prototype installation, Angus installed a bird box in the middle of a busy, pedestrianised thoroughfare and filmed it. He hopes to introduce sound to the installation as part of the main study. Angus is also experimenting with different ways of representing sound in space as graphic notation. This process is in its very early stages, but there is the potential for some very interesting outputs.

What now?

The pilot study has revealed some key methodological questions, which the team is now considering. These include:

- How will the qualitative data (soundwalks and interviews) and quantitative data (lab tests) be integrated together?

- How will the team consider overlaps in findings and the possibility of conflicting findings?

- The project members have also realised that there are conflicting meanings within the project as to what constitutes a soundscape. Some think of a soundscape as being made up of its individual sounds, others think of it as a whole, entire thing full of sonic diversity. This promises to stimulate an interesting and challenging discussion that everyone is looking forward to.