Perhaps the most frequently cited work on soundscapes is the World Soundscape Project initiated by Murray Schafer in the 1970s which documented changes in the acoustic environment throughout history and across cultures.  Schafer defined a soundscape as a sonic environment, a definition that reflected his engagement with the environmental movements of the 70s and emphasized his ecologically based concern about the ‘polluted’ nature of the soundscape of that era.  Others have defined soundscape differently.  Emily Thompson (2002), following the work of Alain Corbin, defines the soundscape as an auditory or aural landscape.  Like a landscape, she says, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving that environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of that world.  And Barry Truax (1999) defines it as an environment of sound where the emphasis is on the way the sound is perceived and understood by an individual, or by a society.  To him the key is the relationship between the individual and any such environment and it may refer to actual environments, or to abstract constructions such as musical compositions and tape montages, particularly when considered as an artificial environment.

In this special session on soundscapes we seek to open up a dialogue about soundscapes with the wider acoustics community and to acknowledge the diverse work taking place on soundscapes within a multitude of disciplines across the UK.  Papers will be presented on research falling within the broad theme of soundscapes and will include theoretical and empirical contributions from quantitative, qualitative, scientific and artistic perspectives. 

Session organisers: Dr Mags Adams and Dr Bill Davies
Session Chairs: Dr Mags Adams and Dr Paul Jennings

Download the programme and registration form here (Adobe PDF file, 255kb)