The intent of this research project is to expand environmental awareness practices as means of survival, protection, and appreciation. Environmental awareness is increasingly vital in sustaining the lives of humankind as well as Earth and its ecosystems. Modern capitalistic approaches to sustainability will not matter if there is no longer a habitat for humankind. By collecting data from an environment over the course of field excursions and transcoding them into sonic signifiers of changes, the intent is to increase awareness of the otherwise inaudible sounds. Patterns in things like temperature and altitude can be observed and recognized in a new way to ultimately intensify keenness on preparation and survivability during an expedition. In an additional development, the use of data transcoding to sound can be transformative in the growth of adaptive and generative audio usage in everyday life. The goal of recording natural, alpine environment soundscapes during field research is to create a stark comparison of auditory experiences with and without the effects of anthrophony. This comparison of noises will accentuate the impacts that human intrusion has on environmental ambisonics. Recognizing noise, even those seemingly inaudible grows the amount of consciousness one has of their surroundings. This can include who and what shares the environment, paving the opportunity for attentiveness to transform into understanding which is a key contributor to how value is assigned to other organisms as well as ourselves.
POTENTIAL DISSEMINATION
To conclude the project, the plan is to host an exhibition of the finalized audio clips and soundscape recordings. Text and photographs can accompany the audio materials for contextual support, but the main emphasis will be on the sounds previously captured. A mockup sketch of an anticipated exhibition display is included as Figure 1 in the Appendix.
Publishing and copyrighting of the approved and reviewed thesis project will be done with the University of Denver as part of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Emergent Digital Practices. A collection of the final thesis project materials will be compiled onto my existing portfolio website, including all completed soundscape recordings, with and without anthrophony for comparison, as well as exported samples of transcoded data to audio cues. The user interface will be important in the accessibility of the audio and their full contexts without overwhelming and diluting information. A mockup sketch of the intended website interface is included as Figure 2 in the Appendix.
CURRENT PROGRESS
So far over the duration of this quarter, research has been primarily reading the materials referenced in this thesis project proposal. The scope and timeline were determined based on what realistically can be accomplished over the course of the next two quarters. Completing the MA Thesis Project Proposal Presentation and approval by the EDP Graduate Committee will allow opportunities for grant and research funding application submissions immediately after using University of Denver resources.[1] Additionally, preemptive hikes around Colorado alpine regions including the locations of Sprague Lake, St. Mary’s Glacier, and Kenosha Pass have been taken to explore listening at frequently visited parks within this project’s scope. These hikes have also allowed for preparation trials prior to bringing up expensive equipment and have encouraged learning and adjusting the scale of expectations to a more realistic capacity based on outdoor experience, carrying capacities, and now extreme temperature or weather.
An investigation of a fully equipped field expedition pack was led by Timothy Weaver to gain a better understanding of which microphones, recording devices, and cameras will work best in achieving the goals of this project. A photograph of all explored equipment is included as Figure 3 in the Appendix. This also provided supplementary knowledge of equipment protection while traveling and trekking with respect to the environment’s existing conditions.
FUTURE PRESENTATIONS
While in this form, this project is only truly accessible to the hearing-abled population, one future iteration could be pairing visuals with the auditory experiences to assist with alerting to environmental awareness practices. Color, time, and sound-visual reactivity are all possible ways to draw conclusions about patterns in the information gathered about an ecosystem or environmental soundscape.
In expanding sonic signifiers and eliminating anthrophony clutter in soundscape recordings, moving beyond alpine regions and fringe sports into an everyday accessibility space can lead to many innovative opportunities. For example, it is common that a crosswalk system in the US to be silent. This poses a danger for the population who experiences visual impairments as they often cannot be certain of the safest time to cross the car-favoring roads. Intensifying the levels of alerts that can be triggered based on a situation and one’s surroundings can support the bringing of society closer to pedestrian-accessible commutes.
On the other side of the system, imagine vehicles that not only automatically sync their travel to the environment, but recenters the ambient listening to reflect its live motion. Using data to adjust or adapt our everyday listening habits is another approach to further innovating the research proposed. Songs that automatically generate tempos or pitches in relation to a user’s ambiance and experience. This can be an early step in the potential integration of game-like adaptive audio experiences into real life.
There are many ways that environmental soundscapes may provoke psychological impacts as well. With the research into mental and physical well-being in relation to human connection to nature, there could be an analysis of how even just listening to a fully immersive environmental soundscape may affect that connection. Sound could potentially improve well-being similar to how specialized lamps aim to provide depression relief in areas with limited sunshine. Future research should be done to increase access to nature, and while this may not be a solution it can be a nudge for the possibilities.
Due to the limitations in the timeline for completing this research project, these future iterations cannot yet be personally explored. Knowing the potential of innovations will help to shape the direction of research collection in its current scope, as the foundational steps for the expansion of environmental awareness. Finding, recording, and editing the differences between anthrophony and natural sounds as well as data implications in Colorado mountain areas will be the most efficient way to fulfill a provocation of environmental awareness considering the current means of the expected scope.
[1] “Research Funding,” University of Denver, accessed November 2, 2022, https://www.du.edu/research-scholarship/funding.
