Distributing Authorship at a Localised Scale: Developing public engagement in sound mapping

Sound maps, particularly the web-based examples that have proliferated since the early 2000s, have proven compelling and valuable as means of conveying diverse perspectives of urban, rural and wilderness sound environments, while opening the creative process of mapping through field recording to non-expert user groups. As such, sound maps hold the promise of broad public engagement with everyday sonic experience and spatial typologies. Yet this straightforward participatory aim is prone to complication in terms of participatory frameworks and scale of analysis. Drawing on a catalogue of sound maps by the author, this article problematises the participatory norms of sound mapping and, in tandem, calls for a more nuanced approach to scale than typically seen to date in sound maps based on geospatial mapping APIs. A sound mapping workshop in Lisbon with a multidisciplinary participant group provided the opportunity to ‘re-prototype’ sound maps at the scale of a local neighbourhood using multimodal means of representation; the results highlighted questions of form, scale, representation, authorship and purpose in sound mapping and demonstrated its continuing potential as a participatory practice.

‘The McBrides are from here’: Listening to Green Ways as creative cartophony

In this article I discuss how Áine O’Dwyer and Graham Lambkin’s 2018 album Green Ways connects with recent criticisms of sound mapping practices. Following an interpretation put forward by the artists themselves, I investigate the cartographic aspects of their project, and how these are conveyed in an album format. The concept of cartophony, suggested elsewhere by Samuel Thulin, is employed as a way to consider different relationships between sound and mapping practices that extrapolate common assumptions of what sound maps are and how they operate. First, I listen to how the artists create sonic performances in which they interact with different elements of the places they are performing in, making sounds not only in the place but also with the place. Then, I consider the different ways in which specificities of place are mapped through the incorporation of speech and singing. Finally, I show how the album’s underlying narratives directly address the problematic distinction between performance situations and everyday life. Considering the project’s unusual emphasis on the artists’ presence, as well as its incorporation of speech, singing and artistic performances, I suggest that Green Ways invites us to broaden our understanding of what field recordings and sound maps can be.

The effects of acoustical ceiling panel type and penetrations for services on vertical sound isolation inside buildings

Attenuation of sound transmitting between rooms oriented over one another inside buildings is studied. Transmission loss and sound transmission class were measured by an independent, accredited, acoustics laboratory with and without a variety of modular acoustic ceilings suspended under a baseline concrete floor structure. Ceiling panel material types include stone wool, fiberglass and mineral fiber. Ceilings were tested with and without the presence of service penetrations for supply air diffusers, return air grilles and light fixtures. Some ceilings were also scanned with a sound intensity probe and the resulting color sound maps are used as a supplemental method of evaluating both isolation and absorption performance of the individual components of the ceiling systems. Results show that while the effects of ceiling panel type on absorption performance, and thus room acoustics, is substantial, the material type and weight of the ceiling panels do not substantially affect the overall isolation performance of the floor-ceiling assembly.

Hindcasting Soundscapes before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Selected Areas of the North Sea and the Adriatic Sea

The national measures in several European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic also affected offshore human activities, including shipping. In this work, the temporal and spatial variations of shipping sound are calculated for the years before and during the pandemic in selected shallow water test areas from the Southern North Sea and the Adriatic Sea. First, the monthly sound pressure level maps of ships and wind between 2017 and 2020 are calculated for frequencies between 100 Hz to 10 kHz. Next, the monthly changes in these maps are compared. The asymptotic approximation of the hybrid flux-mode propagation model reduces the computational requirements for sound mapping simulations and facilitates the production of a large number of sound maps for different months, depths, frequencies, and ship categories. After the strictest COVID-19 measures were applied in April 2020, the largest decline was observed for the fishing, passenger and recreational ships. Although the changes in the number of fishing vessels are large, their contribution to the soundscape is minor due to their low source level. In both test areas, the spatial exceedance levels and acoustic energies were decreased in 2020 compared to the average of the previous three years.

Spatial evaluation of environmental noise with the use of participatory sensing system in Singapore

Existing studies in Singapore on environmental noise are scarce and limited in scale due to the need for expensive equipment and sophisticated modelling expertise. This study presents the approach of using participatory sensing and mobile phones to monitor environmental sound levels around Singapore. iPhones running the AmbiCiti application was adopted to sample equivalent continuous 30-second average outdoor sound levels (LAeq ,30 sec). The aggregated mean of each region was evaluated and the spatial distribution of environmental noise was analysed using noise maps generated from the measurement data. A total of 18,768 LAeq ,30 sec measurements were collected over ten weeks. About 93.6% of the daytime measurements (07:00 – 19:00) exceeded the WHO recommended level of 55 dBA to minimise negative non-auditory health effects due to noise. The results of this study suggest that the population of Singapore is potentially at risk of adverse non-auditory health effects and, to a lesser extent, hearing loss due to community noise levels. However, the measurements exceeding 70 dBA were frequent enough to warrant concern about contributions to the cumulative lifetime sound exposure contributing to hearing loss. The work also demonstrates that sound maps of an area can be efficiently generated using calibrated applications running on smart phones.

Development of a system for monitoring and assessment of underwater sound

<p>The Bulgarian Black Sea coast is an area with intense human activity, but also there is a complex ecosystem. Several anthropogenic sources generate loud sound levels in this area. The two most wide spread are maritime transport and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the Bulgarian offshore sector. Underwater sound may have negative impact on animals in the Bulgarian waters that are sensitive to sound, such as marine mammals and certain fish species. </p><p>The knowledge of ambient noise levels is very important for the characterization of the environmental status with regard to the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The directive is aiming at a more effective protection of the marine environment including the protection of marine life exposed to noise, and the improvement of the health of the marine environment as a whole.</p><p>To estimate this impact the ocean technologies department of Bulgarian Institute of Oceanology developed a system to monitor the sound generated by marine activities following the TSG Noise guidance. The aim was to provide an integrated solution to monitor and asses the noise impact of ship traffic or other marine activities. The development was funded by program BG02 "Integrated management of marine and inland waters" financed by the financial mechanism of the European economic Area (EEA FM) 2009-2014.</p><p>The system consists of monitoring and simulation components. The combination of numerical modelling and noise measurements at selected locations offers a credible solution to the problem of underwater noise monitoring. The monitoring component comprises an array of passive sound recorders, equipped with hydrophones, self-contained power supplies, data acquisition and storage electronics. The simulation tool is in development. Suitable modelling approaches, modelling scenarios, and acoustic model input values are being selected and applied for the most important sources of sound and for underwater sound propagation in the Bulgarian waters. The tool computes sound maps produced by multiple noise point sources, as input for assessment of the environmental status. For optimum results, the simulation tool will be validated using acoustic measurements provided by the monitoring tool.</p><p>Future work includes development of a post-processing tool of the sound maps to obtain indicators relevant to both the noise anthropogenic pressure and biological effect of underwater noise impact on marine life.</p>