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 sound walking 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 sound can induce a level of stress, anxiety, fatigue, and cognitive decline. Here, binaural recording and binaural immersive listening comes to the rescue, satisfying our brains and alleviating stress. Why? Because it sounds more natural, the listening is as 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 resonating through towers and districts, each narrating its own story and having its own spot in the 3d environment.
This immersive auditory experience goes therefor 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 undergoes changes due to urban constructions and revitalizations, our auditory realm is equally affected. 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 understanding about 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 an 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 draw 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.
In her eloquent essays, Pauline Oliveiros 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-oridinairy listening experiences we created several Walking Cities albums. Which you can get here:
<add links>
All the experiences consist of different walks through cities. On the album you will find the sound recording and 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 centred 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
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 for the purpose of reproducing the music.
With the extreme weather of the last year, we might start to listen differently to rain. If you look superficially at the world we are either in desperate need of rain or we have too much of it. Rain in the end is a fundamental meteorological phenomenon. It has captured the imagination and reverence of diverse cultures throughout history. Its multifaceted impact and our dependency on it extends beyond its role in sustaining life and ecosystems; it resonates deeply within our emotions, perceptions, and physiological responses.
Let’s look at rain outside the need to sustain life and ecosystems and look into the effects on the auditory system, and the psychological impact of listening to rain.
Cultural Perceptions of Rain
Rain is more than mere droplets from the sky; it carries symbolism and cultural significance across the globe. In Indian culture, monsoon rains are celebrated as a divine blessing, bringing relief from heat and rejuvenating the lands. Similarly, Native American tribes associate rain with renewal and cleansing, reinforcing the spiritual connection between nature and humanity. Rain dances and rituals in various cultures illustrate the reverence accorded to rain’s life-giving properties. It’s in this significance of rain that the sound of rain and the rhythmic of rain is often mimicked in music and engraved in our brain.
Auditory Experience of Rain
The auditory system’s response to rain is intricate and intriguing. Rainfall produces a rhythmic sound that varies based on factors like drop size, velocity, and surface impact. Studies (see below this article) have shown that the sound of rain engages the brain’s auditory cortex and limbic system, triggering emotional responses. Rain can also be perceived as kind of white noise, which can mask external disturbances and promoting a sense of tranquility. The reason it can qualify as a white noise as it contains all frequencies in equal proportion and the sound is made by uncorrelated samples.
Psychological Impact of Listening to Rain
Listening to rain has garnered attention for its potential psychological benefits. There is more and more research to be found on the topic. Research by Alvarsson et al. (2010)1 suggests that nature sounds, including rain, have stress-reducing effects also supporting the above claim that the noise of rain can have tranquil effect. The main conclusion from the article is that stress recovery goes faster while listening to nature sounds. Rain sounds can evoke feelings of safety, comfort, and nostalgia, potentially aiding in sleep and concentration. Important to notice is the word CAN. As the perception of sound is always a personal one, when for instance less pleasant memories are triggered the sound in general can be calming but will not have that effect.
Interesting is that in many nature studies on the effect of nature that there is always a small group of people who don’t describe any benefits from listening or being in nature. The estimated guess is that a group of people just don’t like nature, don’t like bugs, or have unpleasant memories associated with nature. This effect is described in relation to multiple nature research in the book The Nature Fix by Florence Williams.
Types of Rain and Their Effects
Different types of rain can also create different and distinct psychological responses. A light drizzle, akin to a gentle tapping, can create a cocooning sensation conducive to introspection and meditation. Heavy rainfall, with its dynamic and enveloping sound, might evoke a sense of coziness and encourage productivity. A soft rain accompanied by distant thunder could enhance the feeling of security by emphasising the power and unpredictability of nature.
Neurologically, listening to rain can influence the release of neurotransmitters associated with relaxation, such as dopamine and serotonin. Apparently the repetitive and gentle nature of rain’s sound contributes to activating the parasympathetic nervous system, inducing a relaxation response. Therefor physiologically, rain sounds can lower heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and decrease cortisol levels, collectively contributing to reduced stress and anxiety. If you search across the internet many people use rain sounds to help them fall asleep or calm them down in general.
In work environments, the rain’s rhythmic cadence may promote focus and creativity. Research2 shows that extroverts while listening to heavy rain sounds can do calculations better. < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5821317/
Conclusion
The effects of listening to rain is highly personal. Listening to rain can be beneficial. In short the possible positive effects of listening to rain are:
The may reduce anxiety and stress levels
The may enhance creativity and cognitive abilities
The may enhance focus or sleep by masking (white noise) other disturbing sounds
If you like to experiment with listening to Rain sounds? As Flower of Sound we recorded several rain experiences. They are recorded in high order ambisonics sound, which means when you listen them you can perceive yourself in the middle of the rain giving the experience of listening to rain extra impact ( IMMERSIVE ). You can listen: Rain, sounding nature here: <insert player>
Want to listen the whole experience? You can purchase the album here: <insert link>
Research to read more
On how you can benefit from listening to nature sounds: Alvarsson et al. (2010)1. <pdf link>
On how Natural sounds can be used as a non-pharmacological way to reduce the anxiety of patients undergoing CABG. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5688625/
On playing ‘natural sounds’ affects the bodily systems that control the flight-or-fright and rest-digest autonomic nervous systems, with associated effects in the resting activity of the brain. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170330132354.htm
On when listening to rain sounds boosts arithmetic ability https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5821317/
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