This is the final edition of the WFAE Newsletter for 2008. For five years this online publication has provided readers with the latest information about the activities of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and its affiliate organizations. It has well served the mission as a bi-monthly supplement to the WFAE's annual publication Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology.
    This edition of the Newsletter ends the year recognizing the emerging WFAE affiliates in Greece and Mexico. Each is currently organizing itself and the WFAE hopes to soon officially bring these organizations aboard to join the currently recognized seven WFAE Affiliate organizations located around the world. We look forward to an exciting 2009 and the continued growth of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. Gary Ferrington, Editor
     
Mexico WFAE Conference. Sound Megalopolis - 2009 will be held in Mexico City March 23rd -27th, 2009. Researchers, teachers, sound producers, musicians, and acoustic ecologists will present papers, panel discussions, workshops, sound installations, and give sound art performances during the event. The Conference planners have established a web site for the up-coming conference. The site is currently in Spanish with an English version soon to be online. Sponsors include: The National Council for the Culture Arts and The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology - Through The National Phonoteque of Mexico.

Soundscape Journal Coming Soon. The annual Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology is in the final stages of editing and will be posted to Affiliate members once published. The Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology is editing this year's edition, which will focus on early soundscape research and those who have contributed to the field over the years.

New BASE web site. The San Francisco, California Bay Area Sound Ecology (BASE) group is an interdisciplinary forum centered around listening and the soundscape. It facilitates projects and events to promote sound-environment awareness, making and encouraging opportunities for ear-opening sonic encounters. BASE is the (currently unofficial) San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology (ASAE), an affiliate of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE). BASE has a new multimedia web site that invites visitors to explore.

Sound Practice Research (SPR) Group Announced. UK and Ireland Soundscape Community (UKISC) member John Drever (Head of SPR and Lecturer in Music) recently announced the formation of Sound Practice Research (SPR), new research group at Goldsmiths, University of London. The group integrates and advances the innovative activities of Goldsmiths Electronic Music Studios composers and researchers. It functions as a nexus for a diverse range of creative and theoretical research linked by a common commitment to rigorous, thoughtful and convincing practice. This is enabled by expertise at the forefront of music computing and audio technologies, field studies and reflection on pressing social, cultural, commercial and environmental issues; and inspired by investigation into and archiving of historical precedents. Read More.

NYSE-ASAE Member New Web Site. ASAE member Jonny Farrow has been working on the redesign of his website and invites affiliate members and others to visit Fields of Sound. Jonny notes that the site includes an extensive amount of -- audio and video content -- to which additional material will be added all the time.

Chicago Based World Listening Project. The World Listening Project (WLP) was formed on July 1st, 2008 by small group of musicians and sonic artists with the initial goal of collecting field recordings from every country in the world and presenting them on a web-based sound map for the Chicago Calling Festival (held October 1-11, 2008). R. Murray Schafer's work with the World Soundscape Project serve as inspiration, as well as the work of Bernie Krausse of Wild Sanctuary.
   WLP is excited to have people from around the world joining the WLP listserv and providing their ideas in this early stage of development. WLP is a registered non-for-profit organization in the Sate of Illinois. Its revised mission was written in August and now de-emphasizes the task of sound-mapping with a broader vision.
   The mission states: The World Listening Project (WLP) is a not-for-profit organization devoted to understanding the world and its natural environment, societies and cultures through the practices of listening and field recording. WLP maintains and develops a repository of sound recordings and provides access to this information via web-based technologies, workshops, forums, lectures, and festivals. WLP hereby seeks to encourage worldwide opportunities for collaboration, education, curation, research and experimentation across the disciplines of the arts, humanities and the social and natural sciences.   
    To realize this mission numerous proposals are being considered, such as workshops and technology initiatives for public access to recording gear, transmission arts projects, while a search for funding also gets underway.
    Among the WLP international partners is Jerome Joy of Locus Sonus. Joy will be visiting Chicago in November and December to explore shared objectives with WLP and the Locustream project. Visit the WLP web site.

Ocean Research Opportunity Available in the San Juan Islands. Program. Dr. Scott Veirs of the Washington State based Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School writes that the Center is recruiting students for the spring and fall programs planned for 2009. Next year the Center will continue its bioacoustic investigations of fish that the orcas prey upon, most prominently Chinook salmon. Students or colleagues interested in the ecological interactions of endangered orcas and salmon, as well as the associated challenges in ecosystem-based management are encouraged to contact the Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School. Visit the schools web site.

EU tells kids to turn their MP3 players down. (Globe and Mail) Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists have warned. The study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noise," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels - with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism. Read Story Online.

Mysterious humming noise returns. (BBC) A mysterious humming noise which kept residents of a Suffolk town awake at night for weeks has struck up again. For seven weeks in the summer people in Sudbury were plagued by the sound of a low drone, but then it stopped. The source of the noise was never identified despite an investigation by Babergh District Council. Now the humming noise is back and louder than before. Residents have heard the sound but there is still no clue to what is causing it. See BBC Video Report.

Town crier deafened by his own bell. (Telegraph.co) Keith Jackman, 86, said the volume of his voice was similar to the noise of Concorde taking off. "Twenty five years of ringing the bell in my right hand has had an effect on my hearing, I guess it's an occupational hazard," he said. Read Full Story.

Trunk calls - What do trees sound like - from the inside? (Guardian.co.uk) Meet the artist whose hi-tech 'ear trumpet' lets us listen in on a tree's secret soundtrack. So what does a tree sound like? When children hear it for the first time, says Metcalf, they tend to think it is thunder, or a motorbike. This is the structural sound of a tree in motion. "But then, as you keep listening, you can pick out this clicking sound, which is slightly hidden. Once you hear it, you can't ignore it." Read Full Story.

Team records 'music' from stars (BBC) Scientists have recorded the sound of three stars similar to our Sun using France's Corot space telescope.
     A team writing in Science journal says the sounds have enabled them to get information about processes deep within stars for the first time.
     If you listen closely to the sounds of each star - by clicking on the media in this page - you'll hear a regular repeating pattern. These indicate that the entire star is pulsating.
    You'll also note that the sound of one star is very slightly different to the other. That's because the sound they make depends on their age, size and chemical composition. Read Full Story.

Article Features Work of Gordon Hempton. Kathleen Dean Moore's article in the current edition of Orion Magazine, "Silence Like Scouring Sand One of America's quietest places, and the valiant effort to keep it that way", is an informative piece about the efforts of Pacific Northwest USA sound recordist Gordon Hempton's pursuit of the few remaining quiet spots in the United States. Hempton is a man on a mission to record the natural sounds of the world before they are drowned out by human noise. For years, he has searched for the quiet places where falling water and wren song can still be clearly heard. Read Full Article.

Tuned City. Between Sound and Space Speculation Reader
Edited by Anne Kockelkorn, Doris Kleilein, Gesine Pagels und Carsten Stabenow
200 Pages, German/English texts, with Illustrations by Andreas Toepfer
EUR(D) 25,00 / EUR(A) 25,70
ISBN 978-3-937445-36-6
KOOK BOOKS 2008

Sounds belong to the City. They determine spaces and identities. For years, artists have been using city noises as a material to stage or to question urban space--new territory, however, for most architects and planners within the routines of functional planning procedures. "Tuned City - Between Sound and Space Speculation" searches for a new evaluation of architectural spaces from the perspective of acoustics. This volume presents various positions of architects, artists and theorists to expand the architectural discourse with the dimension of listening.

CONTRIBUTORS: Doris Kleilein and Anne Kockelkorn - Disconnection, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter - Aural Architecture, Interview with Gisela Herzog and Gerhard Steinke - Reverberation Time, Susanne Hauser - Eye, Ear and Big Cities, Interview with Thomas Ankersmit - Resonance Pascal Amphoux and Gregoire Chelkoff - How do cities sound? A retrospective look at the concept of sonic effect, Interview with Raviv Ganchrow - Sound Material, Mark Bain - Psychosonics (and the Modulation of Public Space), Interview with Arno Brandlhuber and Markus Emde - Noise Control, Michael Bull - Turning out the City: the iPod-Culture, Interview with Stefan Koelsch - Trigger to Flight and Ability to Speak, Interview with Jacob Kirkegaard - Otoacoustic Emission. More Information. Also read book review by Rahma Khazam, The Wire #296, October 2008.

Costa Rica Soundscapes
J.C.Roché and E.Matheu
Original Release Date: January 14, 1997
Label: Sittelle
ASIN: B000005FP0

Outstandingly rich natural concerts recorded in the paradise for wildlife that is Costa Rica. The material for this CD was recorded during the rainy season. The aim of the expedition was first and foremost to capture the overall atmosphere in each forest habitat, rather than seek out any particular species. But for those who like to know exactly what they are listening to, we have included, at the end, an index of the 32 most prominent performers. 58 minutes. Listen to sample sound.

Track Listings
1. Dawn
2. Afternoon
3. Nightfall
4. Nightfall
5. Dawn
6. Dawn Tortugero National Park
7. The Middle of the Day
8. The End of the Afternoon

Hedfors, Per (2003) Site soundscapes: Landscape architecture in the light of sound. Doctoral dissertation. Dept. of Landscape Planning, Ultuna, SLU. Acta Universitatis agriculturae Sueciae. Agraria vol. 407. Download and read full dissertation (PDF 935 Kb)

Abstract:

This research was based on the assumption that landscape architects work on projects in which the acoustic aspects can be taken into consideration. In such projects activities are located within the landscape and specific sounds belong to specific activities. This research raised the orchestration of the soundscape as a new area of concern in the field of landscape architecture; a new method of approaching the problem was suggested. Professionals can learn to recognize the auditory phenomena which are characteristic of a certain type of land use. Acoustic sources are obvious planning elements which can be used as a starting point in the development process. The effects on the soundscape can subsequently be evaluated according to various planning options.

The landscape is viewed as a space for sound sources and listeners where the sounds are transferred and colored, such that each site has a specific soundscape – a sonotope. This raised questions about the landscape’s acoustic characteristics with respect to the physical layout, space, material and furnishing. Questions related to the planning process, land use and conflicts of interest were also raised, in addition to design issues such as space requirements and aesthetic considerations.

A prototype of a computer tool for use in landscape architecture was developed. This was intended to promote listening as well as stimulate an appreciation of the soundscape approach in the processes of planning and design. The purpose was to illustrate auditory problems and raise the aural awareness of the practitioners, for example, while carrying out visits on site. The tool provided a means through which researchers, practitioners and members of the public could meet to facilitate a mutual exchange of ideas. The tool was based on the results of qualitative interviews on two urban settings. These were referred to as reference objects, the design, building material, plant material, functions, traffic conditions and location of which have characteristics which practitioners can compare with their ongoing projects. One of the locations was a pasture on the outskirts of a city, while the other was a public garden which was located towards the centre of the same city. The pasture’s sonotope was characterized by clear, distinct sounds which were neither drowned out by sounds which were emitted a short distance away nor by those emitted at much greater distances. In contrast, the sonotope of the city garden was characterized by the sounds of its surroundings.

April 15-18, 2009
The 8th SCHOOL OF SOUND International Symposium
Southbank Centre, London
~~~ Since 1998, the SOS has presented this stimulating and provocative series of master classes by practitioners, artists and academics on the creative use of sound with image. Directors, sound designers, composers, editors and theorists working at the highest levels of art and media show us the soundtrack from unexpected perspectives. Read More.

Set: 11.01.08