Assignment 2 – Exploring the Emotional Impact of Everyday Sounds

A Busy Intersection

Soundscape Analysis of a Busy Street

Description of the Situation and Sounds Present This recording captures the soundscape of a busy street, featuring both human and mechanical noises. The most prominent sounds include a car approaching and then moving away, its engine noise gradually fading into the distance. Shortly after, a faint male voice emerges but is quickly overshadowed by the distinct laughter of a girl, which dominates the auditory scene. The laughter is then muffled by the sound of another car engine, which momentarily overpowers the human voices before fading again into the background, allowing a general conversation to resurface.

Emergent Sounds

• The approaching car’s engine is one of the most emergent sounds, as it moves dynamically from soft to loud and then fades away.
• The girl’s laughter is another emergent sound due to its suddenness and distinctiveness in pitch and volume.

Catchy Sounds (Attention-Grabbing)

• The girl’s laughter is the most attention-grabbing due to its contrast with the more monotonous background noise.
• The engine sounds, particularly as the car approaches, also command attention due to their increasing volume and presence.

Most Likely Overheard Sounds

• The faint conversation in the background is likely overheard but not fully distinguishable.
• The initial male voice, though present, is overshadowed and blends into the overall soundscape.

Emotional Impact and Perception The sounds in this environment create a dynamic and evolving atmosphere. The approaching car generates a sense of movement and anticipation, possibly even mild tension if perceived as coming too close. The laughter introduces a sudden contrast, evoking a sense of liveliness or warmth, though it also disrupts the previous balance. The engine of the second car, which muffles other sounds, momentarily creates a feeling of suppression or intrusion, after which normalcy is restored as the background conversation returns.

Volume, Frequency, and Context Effects

• Volume: The changes in loudness, particularly with the car engine and laughter, play a crucial role in dictating which sounds dominate at any given moment.
• Frequency: The lower frequencies of the car engine contrast with the higher frequencies of human voices and laughter, creating a layered auditory scene.
• Context: The context is an important factor as it alters the way sound is reverberated around the surrounding. For example, if I were to record this audio inside a parking lot, the sound of the cars and people would have been bouncing around and lingers a lot longer. Furthermore, the overlapping of different noises in a quick secession is only possible at a busy intersection with high level of activities.

Discomfort/Alert:

I must admit, the noise that bothered me the most was the girl’s laughter. While paradoxically being the noise I found the most interesting. I think the sudden change in pitch really threw myself off while I quite like the noise of cars so I don’t mind that too much.

A Quiet Park

This audio was recorded inside a small quiet park near my residence.

This recording was recorded on a quite Sunday. In this park, there was a family playing soccer with their kids and a few people hanging around the connivance store close by, of which was surprising as they were suppose to be closed on Sunday. Additionally to these main sounds, you could hear the faint noise of birds chipping and also pedestrians walking through the park to get to their residence… What’s interesting is that I also attempted to record from the same location but at night. And there was absolutely no sound at all, only wind sound and faint noise of trams and cars from the distance. Quite eerie.

Emergent Sounds

The emergent sound is the people walking around the park as you can hear them coming closer and further away as they walk pass the microphone. And also the sound of the tram and cars.

Catchy Sounds (Attention-Grabbing)

The sound of the kids and parents playing soccer is the most catchy sound as they projects a boom with kicked.

Emotional Impact and Perception

Emotionally, this recording evokes a chill and calming Sunday afternoon where people are just relaxing.

Volume, Frequency, and Context Effects

The volume of the recording is moderate and mostly quiet as there are less activities happening on site. Frequency is low as most of the sound is generated through the ground, which dampens the sound. The higher frequency sounds are the vocals of people’s chattering and also the sound of the kids. However, the site is also quite windy, and also quite enclosed as it is mostly surrounded by residential buildings. Nonetheless, even though the surrounding is enclosed, the actual park itself is quite opened to the public, which allows wind and traffic (people) to flow in. Due to the enclosed nature of the surrounding and low traffic of the site sound is quite easily heard.

Discomfort/Alert:

This would definitely be the wind sound as it creates an uncomfortable white noise.