Sound

Sound

The scientific definition of sound, which is omnipresent throughout the world, is “a vibration that propagates as an audible wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid,” and each sound is characterized by its wavelength hertz (Hz), intensity (decibel), speed, and direction. The audible sound that is perceptible by humans has frequencies from about 20 to 20,000 Hz.

Silence

The simplest definition of silence is the absence of human noise. Silence, then, is all the sounds from the Earth minus anthropophony, noise produced by humans. According to acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, who has been recording sounds from the Earth for the past 40 years, silence is on the verge of extinction. He believes there are at the most 50 areas around the world which can be called silent. The bioacoustician Jérôme Sueur has written a natural history of silence (Actes Sud publisher) in which he examines all the different kinds of silence.

Green Music

Scientists have found that corn grows better when exposed to sounds at frequencies between 200 and 300 Hertz. Playing sounds for mustard plants enhanced survival in the face of simulated drought. Sound delayed tomato ripening. Mung beans, cucumbers and rice have all sprouted more in response to certain sounds. Strawberries have grown bushier; kiwi and rice roots, longer. Sound has guided roots to water. In a study published in the National Library of Medicine, scientists show how plants generate and respond to sound and how sound can be used to improve plant growth and plant resistance against stresses. Exposing plants to sound activates plant innate immunity. Sound has also influenced interactions between plants and animals. For instance, only the vibrating buzz of a particular bee will trigger some plants to release pollen. Pitcher plants even create their own bat call to attract bats.

Sound Healing

Sound healing is a holistic practice that allows you to sink into a deep state of meditation using therapeutic grade instruments to create calming soundscapes. Sound healing sessions are also called sound baths because you are bathing in the vibrations guiding your body in a state of balance. Instruments that create resonance - Himalayan singing bowls, crystal singing bowls, drums, gongs - are used to promote a sense of calm and relaxation.

Biophony

Biophony, a term coined by Bernie Krause, is the study of sounds coming from plants and animals. It explores new definitions of animal territory. It addresses changes in diversity, density and richness of the animal population.

Acoustic ecology

Also called ecoacoustics or soundscape, is a discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between humans and their environment. Acoustic ecology can inform us of changes in the climate or other environmental changes since every day we listen to sounds in the world to identify their source such as bird, car, plane, wind, water. But we don't listen to those sounds as a network, a mesh of relationships that form an ecology. A soundscape is a combination of biophony, geophony, and anthrophony. Across time and space, various combinations generate unique soundscapes.

Geophony

It is the study of the Earth’s sounds, like the wind blowing, thunder, rain or waves crashing, for example.

Noise and health 

A growing body of research shows that chronic noise is not just annoying, but a threat to the health, increasing the risk of hypertension, stroke, heart attack, according to a story published in the New York Times. Noise exposure primes the body to overreact, amplifying the negative effects. Noise enters the body through the ears, but it is relayed to the stress detection center of the brain called amygdala. If it is chronically overactivated, it starts to produce harmful effects. Researchers in Boston made an astounding discovery: People who lived in areas with his levels of transportation noise were more likely to have highly activated amygdalia and within five years major cardiac events.

Soundscape conservation 

Until recently, the emphasis has been on preserving the Earth’s biodiversity and the habitats these organisms depend upon. However, soundscape ecology encourages biologists to consider natural soundscapes as resources worthy of conservation efforts. Soundscapes that come from relatively untrammeled habitats have value for wildlife as demonstrated by the numerous negative effects of anthropogenic noise on various species. Organisms that use acoustic cues generated by their prey may be particularly impacted by human-altered soundscapes. In addition, natural soundscapes can have benefits for human wellbeing and may help generate a distinct sense of place, connecting people to the environment and providing unique aesthetic experiences.

Bioacoustics

Noise is a byproduct of increased urbanization. The volume and frequency of anthropophony has increased. Animal biodiversity has shown to decline because of chronic noise levels in cities and along roadways. Birds may be particularly sensitive to noise pollution given that they rely heavily on acoustic signals for intraspecific communication. The great tits, for instance, have changed the frequency of their call to adapt. One study focusing on community composition found that habitats exposed to anthropophony hosted fewer bird species than regions without noise, even though both areas had similar numbers of nests. Beluga whales have been observed to raise their voices (like humans in a crowded pub) when there is loud shipping noise.

Cymatics

A whole symphony of sounds, sights, scents, and sensations surround us, and we blindly walk right through them. Cymatics is the science of sound and vibration made visible. In the most common mode of operation, a surface such as a large plate or a diaphragm is peppered with a thin layer of particles, paste or a liquid. A particular frequency is then passed through the surface and the particles begin to take on marvelous geometrical patterns which correspond to the frequency applied. Each frequency creates a different image. The musical notes are brought to sight. The patterns that emerge from the sounds are analogous to the patterns that are created in sacred geometry.

The four functions of silence

According to French philosopher and psychotherapist Cynthia Fleury, who has co-authored a pamphlet called Ce Qui Ne Peut Être Volé (What cannot be stolen), “silence is one of the key factors contributing to the well-being, an essential element to mental and physical health, according to researchers in environmental psychology or 'geography of health'. According to Fleury, silence has four functions: Spiritual (in silence we can access the sacred), intellectual (without silent focus one cannot think , invent, etc.). The third function is therapeutic (silence preserves our physical and psychic health), and, finally, silence is necessary for a healthy public life (to have any kind of civic life, one needs to be able to listen to others, therefore to be silent). "These 4 functions of silence make it an indispensable individual and collective resource for the health of a democratic life,” she claims. For the philosopher, the creation of private and public spaces, architectures, services, neighborhoods, public transportation which allow everyone “to have free and durable access to silence is to preserve the quality of our attention to the world, to ourselves and to others, humans and non humans.” Cynthia Fleury & Antoine Fenoglio, Ce Qui Ne Peut être Volé (Tracts Gallimard).

PEOPLE & NGOs

David George Haskell

Haskell is a British and American biologist and professor of biology and environmental studies at Sewanee, Tennessee. He is the author of two of the most brilliant and original books on the sound of nature: The Song of Trees (Viking), about 12 trees around the world and their relationship to their environment and to humans. He more recently published Sounds Wild and Broken(Viking) on “sonic marvels, evolution’s creativity and the crisis of sensory extinction.

World Forum for acoustic ecology

This organization was founded in 1993 by individuals and organizations sharing a common concern for the state of the world’s soundscapes, the acoustic environment perceived by humans. Its members engage in the study of the social, cultural and ecological aspects of the sonic environments across the world. WFAE works with its vast network of partners across the world to promote education in listening to the soundscape, research and study, protecting and preserving existing natural soundscapes and times and spaces of quiet.

Doug Aitken

L.A. based Doug Aitken is one of the most important contemporary artists. Sound and rhythm occupy a special place in his work. At the Inhotim foundation, In Brazil, for instance, Aitken has created The Sonic Pavilion. At its center, lays a 202 meter deep hole where a set of microphone is installed to hear the sounds of the earth. Sonic Fountain, features 9 taps on a grid dripping according to a precise rhythm written specifically for this piece. Microphones placed in the water capture the sound of the falling drops.

Christian Marclay

In Swiss American artist Christian Marclay, music and patterns, like in a music score, plays a central role. In one of his performances, he placed hundreds of blank music sheets around Berlin. People wrote musical notes or just graffiti on these white pages. Marclay then gave these sheets to be played by musicians. His paintings function also like pieces of music with silences and changes of rhythm.

Bernie Krause

Krause, born in Detroit, Michigan, started out as a musician. He’s one of the very first “soundscape ecologists”. In 1968, he founded Wild Sanctuary, dedicated to the recording and archiving of natural soundscapes. Soundscape ecology is the study of the relationship between living organisms - humans and others - and their environment. His Great Animal Orchestra, in 2016 at the Cartier Foundation in Paris, which has been traveling around the world since, made people aware of the fragility of natural sounds at a time when biodiversity is in steep decline. Through his organization, Wild Sanctuary, he has collected the soundscapes of more than 2,000 different habitat types, marine and terrestrial. Krause explains that the secrets hidden in the natural world’s shrinking sonic environment must be preserved, not only for our scientific understanding, but for our cultural heritage and humanity’s physical and spiritual welfare.

Yoann Ximenes

The 37 year old French artist transforms sounds into artworks. He makes visible what we cannot see: the first cry of a newborn, the songs of extinct birds, Obama’s famous “Yes We Can” as well as the music of the planets or Mantras - every sound is taking shape through Yoann Ximenes’s art. “Sound has a volume, sculptures do too,” says the artist. “Sound is present everywhere. It’s an invisible and immaterial energy.”

Anni Albers

Even though she was sometimes known as Josef Albers’ wife, Anni Albers was one of the giants of XXth Century art. She was a revolutionary textile artist and one of the few women who trained at the Bauhaus where she studied with Paul Klee. She had to flee nazi Germany with her husband. She found refuge at Black Mountain College, in North Carolina. In 1949, she was invited to a solo show at the MoMA which is the beginning of her public recognition. Almost by accident, she discovered lithography and screen printing which will give her a new career. She passed away in 1994.

Charmion von Wiegand

Born in 1896 in Chicago, Charmion von Wiegand studied philosophy, theater, Greek, art history, archeology, but she started her life as a journalist. Based in Moscow, she was the sole woman correspondent for Hearst Universal Services. In 1926, she started to paint after receiving psychoanalytic analysis. In 1941, Charmion met Dutch artist Piet Mondrian who had recently emigrated to the USA. This relationship was decisive for both of them. In 1942, despite the lack of support from Mondrian, Charmion von Wiegand started painting again. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, her paintings were reflecting her inner perceptions and higher states of consciousness. She was also deeply engaged in Tibetan Buddhism. She went on to produce paintings inspired by the symbolism and instruments of Tibetan Buddhist practices. She passed away in 1983.

Ryoji Ikeda

Born in 1966 in Gifu, Japan, Ryoji Ikeda is a composer and an electronic artist. After studying economics at the university of Tokyo of which he says he does not remember anything, he started his career in 1990 as a DJ. He was one of the founders of the collective Dumb Type which was the first to experiment with data streams. In his work, he elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations. Ikeda transforms data into mesmerizing art works.

Nikola Tesla

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibrations.” - Nikola Tesla

Tree listening project

The Tree Listening Project was developed in 2007 by Alex Metcalf, as a way to engage people with trees, through linking the public with the hidden world behind the bark. Using headphones one can listen in on the movement of water as it travels up from the ground to the leaves, in a truly immersive experience. The Tree Listening Project is a traveling, educational tool used to facilitate a deeper understanding of ‘how trees work’.
treelistening.co.uk