Wednesday, November 12, 2014

"What I Hear" - Soundwalk Report

My sound walk was around the Hunter dorms on 25th and 1st. While I live at the dorms and go back there every night, I never took the time to fully listen to all the different sounds going on in the neighborhood. The dorms are right next to Bellevue hospital, so I heard many ambulance sirens while I was walking. I heard the clicking of people's heels as they walked by and the sound of cell phones ringing with notifications. I heard people talking from afar and horns honking as cars passed by. I heard the music playing loudly from someone’s headphones and the steady beeping of trucks reversing. I heard construction and drilling coming from a building, showing that it was in the daytime. A ring of a bike bell shocked me as I walked in front of the bike path without checking first. 

The keynotes, or background sounds, were mostly the cars passing and people walking. The sound signals included the ambulances and bike bells. There weren't any particular soundmarks that I noticed that could distinguish this area from others in the city except for all the ambulances that were going to Bellevue Hospital. All the sounds combined made it very clear that I was in an extremely busy and crowded urban area. A sound that was meaningful to me was overhearing a guy’s music on his headphones. Normally I never would have paid attention to something as insignificant as that, but because I was on the walk I paid far more attention to sounds than I normally do. I also heard him playing a song that I know and really like by the Black Keys which was really cool. Overall, the sound walk was really enlightening and educational about the power and meaning of the audio that is always around me and I could hear more if I just took the time to notice.


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