The expansion of wind energy production creates an increase in wind turbine (WT) noise. The purpose of this paper is to examine if a possible reduction of WT noise might be achieved by adding natural ambient sounds, so called auditory masking. A loudness experiment was conducted to explore this possibility, using four ambient sounds of trees, birds and water as maskers. Sixteen listeners assessed the loudness of WT noise heard alone or in the presence of 40 dB masking sounds, using the method of magnitude estimation. Partial masking of WT noise was found in the presence of all ambient sounds. The masking effect corresponded to a dB-reduction of the WT noise from a few dB for signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) close to 0 dB up to around 10 dB at -15 dB S/N. These results indicate that addition of ambient sounds may be a useful method for masking unwanted noise from wind turbines.

In the following thesis I investigate aspects of soundscape research and study practices through the gaze of certain methodologies presented in Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis. I argue that elements of the practice Lefebvre has coined “rhythmanalysis” may function as useful tools in the study of sound environments. My research attempts to demonstrate that aspects of rhythmanalysis parallel and complement the important soundscape research that R. Murray Schafer and Hildegard Westerkamp have conducted over the past four decades. The thesis brings Lefebvre’s theories of capitalist modes of production into dialogue with Schafer and Westerkamp’s soundscape explorations. I consider how the rhythmanalytical method corresponds to and diverges from soundscape analysis. The thesis draws on both Schafer and Lefebvre to analyze a soundscape environment that I have personally experienced and inhabited. Lastly, I demonstrate the value in considering rhythmanalysis and Westerkamp’s interpretation of soundwalks as a connected discipline.

Submitted by Patrícia Rodrigues (paty_silvar@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-08-03T20:03:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RODRIGUES_Patrícia_A paisagem sonora da sala de aula_Dissertação.pdf: 1220451 bytes, checksum: 492eb07eed3f7f40bb6b68e83cf0217f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-08-05T17:46:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 rodrigues_ps_me_ia.pdf: 1220451 bytes, checksum: 492eb07eed3f7f40bb6b68e83cf0217f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-05T17:46:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 rodrigues_ps_me_ia.pdf: 1220451 bytes, checksum: 492eb07eed3f7f40bb6b68e83cf0217f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho apresenta e discute uma proposta pedagógica, cujo objetivo foi desenvolver escuta e a criação de Paisagens Sonoras para favorecer o desenvolvimento da compreensão musical e também da consciência a respeito de ambientes acústicos. Tal proposta foi realizada junto a alunos do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, na rede municipal de São Caetano do Sul, onde a autora da pesquisa trabalha como professora de música. Essa proposta pedagógica foi descrita e analisada para a dissertação de mestrado que a autora desenvolveu como trabalho final do Programa ProfArtes, mestrado profissional do Instituto de Artes da Unesp. As perguntas norteadoras da proposta pedagógica e da reflexão dessa dissertação são: propor aos alunos um projeto de criação de uma peça, para a qual eles deverão ouvir atentamente, catalogar, classificar, experimentar, gravar sons, elaborar ritmos, melodias, com diálogos durante o processo, os levaria a alguma conclusão relevante sobre o ambiente sonoro que os cerca? E seria possível ensinar música a partir desta proposta? Para tentar respondê-las, buscamos como auxílio ferramentas da música contemporânea e ideias de autores nos quais esta pesquisa se fundamentou, como Murray Schafer e John Paynter. Entretanto, no decorrer das experiências vividas muitas considerações emergiram e influenciaram o objetivo e a trajetória metodológica escolhida, como está registrado nas narrativas das aulas e nas reflexões da dissertação. / This paper presents and discusses a pedagogical proposal, from which the objective was to develop the listening and creation of Soundscapes to favor the development of musical understanding and also awareness about the acoustic environment. The proposal was realized with students from the 5th year of elementary school in the city of São Caetano do Sul, where the author of the research works as a music teacher. This pedagogical proposal was descript and analised for the Master dissertation that the author has developed as final work of the Prof-Artes Program, Professional Master of Instituto de Artes of Unesp. The guiding questions of this pedagogical proposal and this dissertation are: offer students a music creation project, for which they should listen carefully to catalog, to classify, to experiment, to record sounds, to elaborate rhythms and melodies, with debates during the process, would lead to some relevant conclusions about the sonorous environment that surrounds them? And it would be possible to teach music from this proposal? To try to answer them, we seek aid on the Contemporary Music and in the ideas from the authors that this research was based, as Murray Schafer and John Paynter. However, in the course of the experiences, many considerations emerged and influenced the objective and the chosen methodological trajectory, as it is registered in the narratives of the classes and in the reflections of the dissertation.

abstract: Throughout history composers and artists have been inspired by the natural world. Nature's influence on music is extraordinary, though water in particular, has had a unique magnetic pull. The large number of compositions dealing with water, from Handel's Water Music (1717) to Ros Bandt's and Leah Barclay's Rivers Talk (2012), reflects this continuous fascination. Since the late 1940s, composers have ventured further and brought actual sounds from the environment, including water recorded on tape, into the musical arena. Moreover, since the 1960s, some composers have nudged their listeners to become more ecologically aware. Much skepticism exists, as with any unconventional idea in history, and as a result compositions belonging to this realm of musique concrète are not as widely recognized and examined as they should be. In this thesis, I consider works of three composers: Annea Lockwood, Eve Beglarian, and Leah Barclay, who not only draw inspiration from nature, but also use their creativity to call attention to pristine environments. All three composers embrace the idea that music can be broadly defined and use technology as a tool to communicate their artistic visions. These artists are from three different countries and represent three generations of composers who set precedents for a new way of composing, listening to, performing, and thinking about music and the environment. This thesis presents case studies of Lockwood's A Sound Map of the Danube River, Beglarian's Mississippi River Project, and Barclay's Sound Mirrors. This thesis draws on unpublished correspondence with the composers, analytical theories of R. Murray Schafer, Barry Truax, and Martijn Voorvelt, among others, musicological publications, eco-critical and environmental studies by Al Gore, Bill McKibben, and Vandana Shiva, as well as research by feminist scholars. As there is little written on music and nature from an eco-critical and eco-feminist standpoint, this thesis will contribute to the recognition of significant figures in contemporary music that might otherwise be overlooked. In this study I maintain that composers and sound artists engage with sounds in ways that reveal aspects of particular places, and their attitudes toward these places to lead listeners toward a greater ecological awareness. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Music 2012

Electroacoustic music has a unique ability to connect the listener to places, space and stories both real and imaginary. Each work within the portfolio explores specific objects, spaces and places. The intrinsic sonic qualities are explored and a musical narrative takes the listener through a newly composed imaginary space. Six original compositions are presented in this portfolio. The titles of these works are as follows: Lamenting, 192, All Along the Bell Tower, Oz, The Thing About Listening is…. and A Bit Closer to Home. Narrative structures that simulate a journey are used as a guide for the listener through immersive, virtual soundworlds. These spoken word and musical narratives also serve as a structural tool for the composer. Imagined and real sonic layers within stories and soundscapes are analysed, deconstructed and manipulated. These works convey a message, story or sense of place to the listener, while revealing sonic qualities that are not normally the focus of listening. My aim as a composer is to enhance the daily listening experiences of the listener, as they become more aware and appreciative of the sounds around them, through the sounds and spaces they experience in my music.

I detta examensarbete genomfördes en undersökning av hur ljudläggning kan påverka upplevelsen av så kallad ”immersion” i musik, genom att låta sex försökspersoner lyssna på två egenskrivna musikstycken, där vart och ett fanns i två varianter, en med och en utan ljudläggning. Uppsatsens syfte var att öka förståelsen för hur ljudläggning kan påverka lyssnarens upplevelse av ett musikstycke samt att utforska om ljudläggning kan användas i musik som ett verktyg för att förmedla en intention. Avsnittet om tidigare forskning består av två delar där den ena förklarar hur begreppet ”immersion” kan tillämpas och den andra beskriver vad ”ljudläggning” innebär och hur min ljudläggning i de egenskrivna musikstyckena förhöll sig till den beskrivningen. Resultatet av en enkätundersökning visade att majoriteten av informanterna kunde förstå syftet med ljudläggningen i båda musikstyckena, vilket antyder att ljudläggning kan användas som ett verktyg för att förmedla en intention. För att utveckla forskningsarbetet skulle man kunna göra en studie i större skala för att erhålla mer signifikativa och statistiska data gällande ljudläggningens påverkan på musik.

Sustainable urban design requires human wellbeing to be prioritized, considering all human senses (Torigoe, 2002). Sound, which is often overlooked in the municipalities planning offices, affects health in both positive and negative manner. The general approach for handling sounds in cities are through quantitative measurements such as noise abatements and decibel measurements, while the qualitative visual and audial perception; also known as psychoacoustics, is disregarded (Raimbault & Dubois, 2005; Steele et al., 2020; Cerwén, 2016). Research also show that urbanisation decreases pleasant sounds to the human ear(Steele et al., 2020; Beatly, 2012), and some scholars argue that people are losing their skill to identify and name what they are hearing (Schafer, 1994 & Westerkamp, 1974). In this thesis the Western harbour area in Malmö, flagged as exemplary sustainable urban development model, has been using soundscape methodology of soundwalks to contribute to a better understanding of sound perception and the functions of the identified sounds. The Western harbour has previously had troubles getting BREEAM-certifications in the past due to noise(ÅF, 2013), and previous surveys by the Malmö municipality present that the wind is a large unpleasant factor to both residents and visitors’ perception of the area (Kristensson, 2013).The results show similarities to presented studies, for example with birdsong being identified as a pleasant sound whilst traffic being an unpleasant sound. Moreover, most identified sounds by the soundwalk respondents were loud and intense, indicating a lack of listening to less-intense, more quiet sounds. The thesis show that qualitative soundscape methodologies can highlight further dimensions of sound beyond decibel levels, positions sound as a central dimension of sense of place. The thesis provides suggestions for the municipality to have updated information and state what sound actions is being made in each area in the city to include sound and acoustic wellbeing as a central dimension of their sustainable urban development, in order to be able to reach their own goal of having all stakeholders working in the same direction. Along with the fact that the Swedish noise abatement law’s approach is preventative, but does not include the aspect of social change in a space after it is built (Kling, 2013; Malmö comprehensive plan, 2013; Dalman, 2013), since the city of Malmö have grown quickly and is still facing a rapid expansion in demographics (SCB, 2021), as Raimbault & Dubois (2005) argue, denser cities are more noisy.

Indigiana, for orchestra and audio soundscape, is dedicated to the 2016 bicentennial celebration of the State of Indiana. The title is derived from the words, ‘Indiana,’ ‘Digital,’ and ‘Indigenous.’ Its programmatic style is based on the natural landscape and my reflections on four Indiana state parks. In addition to the state's bicentennial honor, Indiana celebrated its 100th anniversary of the purchase of its first two recreational facilities, McCormick's Creek and Turkey Run State Park.2 To honor the state and my family’s longstanding heritage as Hoosiers, I used the natural landscape and environmental sounds of four Indiana state parks as the programmatic setting of the piece.

The concept of the thesis is based on the phenomenon of Soundscape. This term was defined during the late 1960s at the occasion of The World Soundscape Project. The image of the acoustic comfort was redefined - from the level of noise pollution to the question of the sonic environment. The contribution of the project lies in the rehabilitation of the importance of sound as a cultural and social phenomenon, which shapes the identity of the place. Since the area of sound research is very large, the theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the description of the auditory perception from the psychological and physical aspects. It's a description of objective and subjective "events", that on the one hand, it appears as a set of physical quantities, on the other side as auditory scene, which provokes the questions how are the different sounds connected, which meanings are associated by the perceived sound, etc. Sources of inspiration, drawing from nonarchitectonic overlaps ( such as poetic acoustic locators or sound installations ) are another starting point for exploring the properties of sounds. The work on a specific issue was preceded by the searching of the accurate place, that is essentially acontextual to the surrounding environment. Landscape character of the quarry Hady reminds a desert, it has a few specified sites, it‘s monotonous land with varying degrees of openness and closeness. The environment of the quarry generates diverse "soundcapes" and also reflects the sound milieu of the surrounding landscape, which becomes the object of manipulation. situation Quarry Hady is one of the dominant landmarks of Brno - scarred face of the hilll and broadcasting tower are visible from miles around, and after mining mechanisms quit, the quarry is turning back to nature. There is a natural reservation Velka Klajdovka and Kavky in close proximity - thanks to the fact grows up to thirty kinds of endangered plants in the lower part of quarry called Růženin lom. The location is easily accessible on foot or by bike ( hiking trail Velká Klajdovka - Šumbera goes through the quarry) or with public transportation within walking distance of 800m. The parking lot with 25 spaces is situated near to turn-off Kanice towards quarry area.

yes / The findings of a wildness study are presented where audio–visual stimuli (video footage), were assessed by experimental subjects under controlled conditions, in order to obtain reliable estimates of perceived tranquillity together with a number of other rated qualities including calmness and pleasantness. A wide range of mainly natural scenes totalling 46 were presented including footage from the Scottish Highlands and Dartmoor National Park. The findings clearly demonstrate that rated tranquillity relates closely to rated calmness and pleasantness and this agrees with earlier studies of soundscape categorisation. The effect of adding man-made sounds to the soundscape was shown to seriously degrade perceived tranquillity though ratings of wildness were not nearly as affected. Attempts to improve the level of tranquillity further by adding natural sounds were largely unsuccessful. It was considered important to determine if the previously employed Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool (TRAPT) successfully validated for mainly urban open spaces could usefully predict tranquility in remote wildland areas. In fact results demonstrated the relatively close relationship between predicted and actually rated tranquillity in these remote areas which further extended the range of validity of the prediction tool. The findings of this study will challenge the notion that characterization of landscapes is purely a visual exercise and that soundscape quality needs to be considered as an integral part of this assessment process. For this reason the findings will be of interest to those responsible for managing and marketing protected areas such as National Parks, practitioners involved in carrying out landscape character assessments, cartographers and landscape architects involved in designing tranquil spaces across a range of scales. / Full text was made available 1st March 2016 at the end of the publisher's embargo.