R3 Blog Response

The Listen Up article got me to stop and listen to the sounds happening in my environment. My window is open, so I can hear my neighbor’s air conditioning blaring. This is the most prominent sound. I could also hear my dog chewing on one of her toys and the buzzing of my computer. I never take time to dissect the sounds I hear. I am used to hearing them constantly, so it does not catch my attention.

The short film, Listen, made a great point about man-kind’s soundscape “performance.” Everyone on the planet makes up our soundscape. Between our voices and machinery, we are the performers. As in the first article, the man in the film requested the audience to stop and listen. This time my dog had stopped chewing, and my computer stopped buzzing. All I heard was the sound of the air conditioners and a loud car driving on Randall Parkway. These sounds are not natural. They are products of man-made machinery and play a part in creating our soundscape.

I found it interesting that Justin Boyd collects sounds like many people do photographs. Our sight is only one of a few ways our brain creates memories. Boyd finds sound to be more significant. Many people do not realize how important sound recordings can be, until they lose someone they love. It’s then they discover that one old voicemail, that they are grateful for the sound. They get to hear their loved-one’s voice again. Boyd recognizes this importance and keeps memories through that method. It’s very interesting and something most people wouldn’t think of.

The Father of Acoustic Ecology discusses the impacts machinery noises and other man-made sounds have on the planet. Apparently, the sounds interrupt the communication systems of many animals. The first article briefly talks about this and how some birds cannot learn their mating calls. I may just be living under a rock, but I feel like most people are not aware of this. I learned about noise pollution in elementary school, but we didn’t learn the consequences of it. People need to be aware of their noise’s impact on the environment, so we can protect species from endangerment or extinction.