Board Chair Report: Since our last Newsletter the WFAE Board has been pretty quiet partly due to my continuing recovery and a month on leave travelling overseas. The Journal Committee has been continuing to work on Volume 8 of Soundscape with the editors from our Finnish affiliate, FSAE. The Call for Articles has been released (see Opportunities below) and we expect publication to continue on schedule through to the end of the year. Consultations with the organisers of the Mexican conference have also been ongoing. The Call for Papers and Presentations for that event is also now 'live' and we anticipate keen interest and attendance in March 2009. We hope to see you there!

 

AFFILIATE NEWS

Keiko Torigoe reports that the Soundscape Association of Japan (SAJ) held its annual meeting and symposium on May 25th at Mitakeno-oka Hall of Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. The theme of the meeting was "What Do We Listen To In The Ghostly Drum-beating By The Raccoon Dog?"
    Keiko notes that Japan has been traditionally an aural culture and that when mysterious sounds from unknown sources have been heard these have been attributed to sounds made by the fabled Raccoon Dogs. The symposium theme focused on aural illusions in the Japanese culture and the role they play in the daily interpretation of the soundscape.
    The symposium started with two keynote speeches. Masayuki Nishie, the president of SAJ, first talked about the raccoon dog (Tanuki) and its basic relationship to Japanese traditions. Then, Junko Konishi, Associate Professor of Shizuoka University, lectured about "Ghostly Drum Beating By The Raccoon Dog". His presentation explored the significance of the "drum beating " through several stages Japanese history.
These speeches were followed by a traditional Japanese comic story, Raccoon Dog Dice, performed by Heiji Katsura, a professional storyteller. Two panels then joined in the final discussion. Masamichi Ohira, the president of Shigaraki Racoon Association, gave his talk on the raccoons from the cultural perspective, and Shinobu Gotoh, Associate Professor of Fukushima University, explained the raccoons as an environmental indicator in city planning and regional development.
    In the end, Keiko reports, "we came to understand that the raccoons have an important role in our living environment as well as in our traditional soundscape of Japan." Report and photography by Keiko Torigoe - JASE. (Editors Note: Some web sites suggest that the raccoon dog beat their own bellies as drums on a moonlight night.)

Experts unveil 'cloak of silence'. (BBC) Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves. The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships. Read Story.

Owls' Silent Flight May Inspire Quiet Aircraft Tech. (National Geographic) The silent flight of owls has long fascinated ornithologists. No other birds fly with such stealth. Now flight engineers are looking at the unique design of owl feathers in hopes of making aircraft as quiet as possible. Read Story.

"Star Wars" Sound Traced to Dwarf Minke Whales. (National Geographic) In 2001 ocean scientist Jason Gedamke discovered that dwarf minke whales are the source of a mysterious ba-ba-boinnnngggg noise that scientists have heard in the oceans for more than 25 years. Read Story

Online maps reveal noise levels across England. (Reuters) Maps showing noise levels in towns across England were published on Friday in an attempt to reduce the disruption caused by factories, planes, trains. Read Story

Enduring Voices: Documenting the Planet's Endangered Languages. (National Geographic) Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them never yet recorded—will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works. Read More.

How loud is your house? (CBC) A look at the dangers of 'noise' Noise, the invisible pollutant, has been blamed for everything from hypertension and learning difficulties, to suicide. More than a decade ago, Health Canada labelled noise as a "real and present danger." Read More

WEB: A Small Slice Of Tranquillity ? For many years now, wildlife sound recordist, Chris Watson, has become increasingly aware of just how difficult it is to escape man-made noise and find a small slice of tranquillity amongst the din. But just what do we mean by tranquility? Is it simply an aesthetic pleasure or does it have a much more fundamental role in our lives?
    In this two part series, Chris goes in search of some answers and finds himself in some very unlikely places, including a floatarium, a moat, an anechoic chamber (ie. a completely silent chamber) and a village just south of London, which is one of a handful of areas which has been officially designated as a tranquil area by the Council for the Protection of Rural England. He meets a composer who describes the importance of listening, hears about a technique to map sounds, experiences sensory deprivation in a room that is absolutely silent; and explores the link between our earliest experiences in our mother’s womb and the search for tranquillity. This is a BBC radio program from July 2003. It is an excellent introduction to the soundscape is to soundscape listening. Visit BBC Radio 4 site. Photo: Chris Watson Recordist.

BOOK: Listening and Voice: Phenomenologies of Sound, Second Edition by Don Ihde. (SUNY Press) "Listening and Voice is an updated and expanded edition of Don Ihde’s groundbreaking 1976 classic in the study of sound. Ranging from the experience of sound through language, music, religion, and silence, clear examples and illustrations take the reader into the important and often overlooked role of the auditory in human life. Ihde’s newly added preface, introduction, and chapters extend these sound studies to the technologies of sound, including musical instrumentation, hearing aids, and the new group of scientific technologies which make infra- and ultra-sound available to human experience.
     Don Ihde is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. He is the author of many books, including Experimental Phenomenology: An Introduction, also published by SUNY Press, and Bodies in Technology. SUNY Press Hardcover - 276 pages|ISBN13: 978-0-7914-7255-2| Paperback - 276 pages|ISBN13: 978-0-7914-7256-9.
   This book has been recommended by reader Arun Kumar Tripathi who has been studying phenomenology and philosophy at the Technical University in Dresden, Germany. He is a research assistant and doctoral candidate in the philosophy of technology department (Institute of Philosophy).

RECORDING: A Sound Map of the Danube by Annea Lockwood. Between the winter of 2001 and the summer of 2004, Lockwood made five field-recording trips, moving slowly down the Danube from the sources in the Black Forest through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania to the great delta on the Black Sea, recording the river’s sounds (at the surface and underwater), aquatic insects, and the various inhabitants of its banks. At 2880 km. (1785 miles) the Danube is Europe’s second longest river and one of its most historically significant, having long been a trade and cultural conduit between east and west. Its drainage basin encompasses much of Central Europe and it has carved out deep gorges dividing the southern arm of the Carpathians from the Balkan Mountains. Along the way she spoke with people for whom the Danube is a central influence on their lives, an integral part of their identity, asking them "What does the river mean to you? Could you live without it?" They responded in their native languages and dialects, their voices woven into the river’s sounds, placed as close to the location where I met them as possible. “What is a river?” was the question underlying the whole project for me.
     An installation, A Sound Map of the Danube, was completed in 2005 and first presented during the Donau Festival in Krems, Austria. It was mixed in 5.1 surround sound with audio engineer Paul Geluso at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts in New York, and this version was re-mixed in stereo in 2008. Visit the Lovely Music, Ltd. for details and ordering information. (Excerpts from Lovely Music web site.).

BOOK: Noise by Bart Kosko. Noise is a social nuisance, a cause of deafness and high blood pressure, and an all-around annoyance. But what is noise really? As Kosko simply states, noise is a signal that you don't like. It occurs at every level of the physical universe, from the big bang to blaring car alarms. Today, noise is considered the curse of the information age, but, in fact, not all noise is bad. Debunking this and many other commonly held beliefs about noise, Kosko gives readers a vivid sense of how deeply noise permeates both the world around us and within us. Along the way he covers many compelling topics, from noise's possible role in the ice ages to noise pollution laws, the use of noise to generate synthetic speech, and Hedy Lamarr's contribution to noisy wireless communication. The result is a vastly entertaining and illuminating scientific journey that promises to do for noise what James Gleick did for chaos: make it vital, fascinating, and relevant. Book: Hardcover | 6.14 x 9.25in | 272 pages | ISBN 9780670034956 | 17 Aug 2006 | Viking Adult | 18 +| Source: Powells Books.

Sound Research Centers. There are a number of research centers around the world engaged in the study of sound. Here are four examples :

• The University of Washington's Ocean Acoustic Department studies the propagation and scattering of sound in the ocean using theory and numerical modeling backed by ocean experiment. The department examines the effects of variability in the ocean environment on sound.
• The Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) is a unit within the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. BRP develops digital recording equipment, computer software, and algorithms that are used by scientists around the world to study animal communication and to monitor the health of wildlife populations. BRP is also pioneering new techniques for censusing and tracking wildlife with arrays of microphones placed in natural environments around the globe.
• The Australian Sound Design Project, is the first national website and database dedicated to researching and publishing original works and the discourse relating to sound and its design in public space. The project is hosted by the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne and funded by a large grant from the Australian Research Council.
• The Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Institute for music/acoustic research and coordination) is the only center of its kind across the globe, dedicated to contemporary musical research and production and linked to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. IRCAM provides a unique framework to welcome and coordinate various scientific ways of approaching music, including physics (acoustics, mechanics), signal processing, computer science, cognitive psychology and musicology.

July 1-5, 2008
Tuned City - Between sound and space speculation
Various locations around Berlin, Germany
~~~ Between sound and space speculation is an exhibition and conference project planned for July 01.-05. 2008 in Berlin which proposes a new evaluation of architectural spaces from the perspective of the acoustic.
   The project draws the traditions of critical discussion about urban space within the architecture and urban planning discourse–as well as its strategies and working methods–into the context of sound art. This expanded discussion reinforces the potential of the spatial and communicative properties of sound as a tool and means of urban practice. At the foundations of this event are artists’ works and theoretical approaches which examine in a critical and sensitive way the given urban and architectural situations alongside their resulting socio-political implications, that re-use existing spaces or that conceive and open new spaces.
     A dialogue will be built at the intersection of both disciplines which traces out the complex relations and interactions of space-sound, both presenting and testing new strategies, methods, possibilities and potentials of sound work within the artistic and applied context. Tuned City is structured in two main segments – symposium and site-specific installations.
    On the individual days the symposium will approach the topic from five different theoretical and spatial perspectives. Spaces built for the production and reception of sound or acoustically flawed or impossible spaces, public and semi-public urban space, finished and planned spaces, wasteland or cultivated spaces, indoors and outdoors – the chosen venues correspond with the individual topic of the day and offer plastic illustration and demonstration. Tuned City will try to break down the conventional conference format and to catalyze the discussion via the space in a mixture of academic talk, artistic presentation, performances, reports from working practice, demonstrations, and walks.
    The five days will be accompanied by a dense workshop programme and a performance programme corresponding with the individual topics. Read More: Exhibition Web Page and Programme.

June 5 - October 1, 2008
10th Anniversary - Sound Travels Festival of Sound Art
Toronto Island, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
~~~ Sound Travels brings sound art to the outdoors on Toronto Island in a way that entices the curious and provides a unique experience each and every year. This 10th anniversary edition includes installations and performances throughout the summer as well as the 2nd annual Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, workshops, SOUNDwalks and youth residencies. Produced by New Adventures in Sound Art. More Inofrmation online.

July 5 and 6
Installation: "Each Pebble Its Part"
Brighton, England
~~~ Andi Chapple's installation 'Each Pebble Its Part' will be on show at the Sonic Arts Network's EXPO exhibition in Brighton from 10.30-7 on Saturday 5 July and 11-5 on Sunday 6. it's at The Basement, 24 Kensington St., Brighton BN1 4AJ, in the big space called, er, The Space. there is plenty more to see and hear at EXPO so if you're nearby, do come.
    'Each Pebble Its Part' comes out of a series of walks I did to points all along the Rawthey, which is the river that flows past Sedbergh. at each point I took photos, made recordings, and picked up a stone from the riverbank. for the installation, what you get is a line of stones; for ech stone, there is a photo-based image and a foot pad that triggers some recordings. a walk along the stones becomes a walk along the river. The installation was commissioned by Ephemeral House, Sedbergh, and funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

July 23-25, 2008
BRITDOC 08
Keble College, Oxford
~~~ BRITDOC is a three-day festival hosted by the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation. The festival provides an essential creative and financial hothouse for the UK and international documentary filmmaking community. More information online

August 9-30, 2008
THE SOUNDTRACK Summer Workshops
Edinburgh, Scotland
Screen Academy Scotland and The Ian Tomlin School of Music - Napier University
~~~ THE SOUNDTRACK is two practical workshops exploring the soundtrack in fiction filmmaking. The three-week courses concentrate on the creation of a soundtrack for a short film, and music composition. These two courses go beyond the usual teaching of sound design and composition to create an awareness of how these disciplines fit within the structure of film narrative. The teaching combines creative decision-making with the technical and professional demands of soundtrack production.
    To get the latest information about the programme, fees, tutors and application procedures, go to the Summer Workshops pages at www.schoolofsound.co.uk.For details about further financial support for Scottish applicants, contact Sharon Hutt at Skillset Scotland, Sharonh@skillset.org.

Deadline: August 15, 2008
Call for Contributions - Soundscape Journal 2008
~~~ The Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology is editing this years Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology.  We are seeking submission of articles on the theme Pioneers, pathfinders and earcleaners. Deadline August 15, 2008. We welcome manuscripts that deal with issues of soundscape research and art. The historical views concerning the matter are especially welcomed. The articles could cover the following areas: