Soundscape

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A soundscape is an acoustic environment or an environment created by sound.

As such, it refers in the first place to the natural acoustic environment, consisting of the sounds of the forces of nature and animals, including humans. This is the domain of acoustic design (R. Murray Schafer).

There are different elements of the soundscape such as keynote sounds, sound signals, and soundmarks.

Keynote 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. Ex: warning devices, bells, whistles, horns, sirens, etc.

Soundmark: This is derived from the term landmark. A soundmark is a sound which is unique to an area. “Once a Soundmark has been identified, it deserves to be protected, for soundmarks make the acoustic life of a community unique” (Schafer).

Soundscapes are often combined with the performance of music.

A soundscape composition is an electroacoustic musical composition creating a sound portrait of a sound environment. Composers who use soundscapes include real-time granular synthesis pioneer Barry Truax and Luc Ferrari, whose Presque rien, numéro 1 (1970) is an early soundscape composition. (Roads 2001, p.312)

Soundscapes from a computerized acoustic device with a camera may also offer synthetic vision to the blind, as is the goal of the seeingwithsound project.

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