Experience active listening as you embark on an immersive soundwalk. Imagine the microphone in motion as you are walking there yourself, meandering through bustling streets, vibrant squares, and bridges. Each city boasts its unique energy and sonic identity, captured through recordings made while strolling through their urban cores—ushering you into a dynamic realm of auditory exploration.
Soundwalking transcends mere sound—it encapsulates the essence of sound, just as it’s more than walking—it encapsulates the environment you are walking in. A spatial-temporal, embodied, multi-sensory, mobile practice, soundwalking unravels a world of sensory and experiential dimensions while listening to the essence of an environment. To experience soundwalking you need to use hearable devices such as headphones, pods, and earbuds.
What’s different?
In the realm of real-world soundscapes, our brains grapple to compensate for the loss of multidimensionality in audio recordings. The cognitive strain of deciphering poorly processed sounds can induce a level of stress, anxiety, fatigue, and cognitive decline. Here, binaural recording and binaural immersive listening come to the rescue, satisfying our brains and alleviating stress. Why? Because it sounds more natural, the listening is as if you are in a multidimensional environment.
Contrasting to static stereo field recordings, the dynamic act of walking stimulates the auditory system. Sounds emerge and vanish, presenting an intricate interplay—one sound reigning in an area only to dissolve shortly after. Bells resonate through towers and districts, each narrating its own story and having its own spot in the 3d environment.
This immersive auditory experience goes therefore beyond traditional soundscapes, heightening your perception of intricate details and offering an unconventional listening adventure.
Urban landscapes
Nowadays our lives are intricately interwoven with urban landscapes that evolve almost in symbiosis with technological advancements.
Amidst all this, alongside other urban factors, the evolving technological milieu influences the rapid transformations in the auditory soundscapes of our cities. Just as our visual landscape changes due to urban constructions and revitalizations, our auditory realm is equally affected. The research underscores the constant rise of noise pollution alongside industrial progress. Although urban designers are increasingly attuned to the issue of noise within cities, there remains substantial work to be done. In essence, the sonic snapshot of a specific era in a given time gives an understanding of the level of acoustic well-being and the historic time frame.
Urban Soundscapes and Heritage
In the realm of pedestrian-friendly cities, the auditory experience becomes a playing field for training active listening within our minds. The act of moving, coupled with sound recording, introduces an ever-shifting dynamic to auditory perceptions. Passersby inherently draws our attention, causing us to engage with the surrounding sonic environment. This perpetual flux in the soundscape keeps our auditory senses attuned, sharpening both micro and macro acoustic perceptions. The binaural recording technique, conducted at a walking pace of approximately 4-6.4 km/h, simulates a first-person perspective. Placing microphones within the ear canals, accounting for the occlusion caused by the head’s mass, augments the immersion, rendering the experience familiar and natural.
Moreover, the act of moving provides a unique opportunity to capture different language dialects without detection, exemplifying the interplay of urban sounds with the subtleties of linguistic diversity. The microphone goes unnoticed therefore capturing the real-life soundscapes.
In her eloquent essays, Pauline Oliveros encapsulates the sonic epiphany that arises from the intention to listen rather than merely hear. This distinction becomes a gateway to profound meditative states. The omnidirectional signals interpreted by our auditory apparatus activate dormant brain regions when we hear, but come to life when we actively listen. This dynamic further solidifies the intricate connection between sound and cognition.
As Flower of Sound
Inspired by the possibilities of soundwalking and creating non-ordinary listening experiences we created several Walking Cities albums. You can find them our Boutique.
All the experiences consist of different walks through cities. Of each city there are two versions on the one you will find the sound recording and on the other one called + ambient textures you will find the same recording elevated with calming immersive drone sounds. This tranquil layer envelops you, promoting a profound sense of well-being and serenity. Allow your mind to recalibrate, redirect focus, and unwind in an environment that feels authentic, all while remaining centered and relaxed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the soundscape of a city, shaped by technological progress and urban dynamics, holds a profound influence on our cognitive experience and makes it possible to really experience a city via listening. The intersection of auditory heritage with urban evolution also offers a fertile ground for designing healthier, more harmonious environments. Through the lens of spatial sound, we can truly decode the rhythm of urban life and pave the way for a more mindful engagement with our surroundings.
If you like to read more on the subject we can recommend the following references:
Noise pollution is one of the biggest health risks in city life:
The Effects of Spatial Sound on Human Wellbeing:
A First Approximation to the Sound Environment Assessment of Children through a Soundwalk Approach:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7345751/
Integrating Soundscape Criteria in Urban Sustainable Regeneration Processes: An Example of Comfort and Health Improvement
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3143
Warning for the Walking Cities albums: Wind conditions occasionally lead to distortions. The incidental presence of background music in the recording is not intentional to reproduce the music.
