From Sound to Noise… And Vice Versa

Despite the interpretations of noise as a disturbance, interference or an unpleasant sound, noise is deeply related to cultural and social processes. This paper aims to discuss the use of non-musical sounds in public artistic interventions, based on a sound intervention conducted as part of an accomplished research, focusing the juxtaposition of sound and physical environments by the use of sound interfaces providing collective listening in public spaces. This research is also part of Nomads.usp, Centre of Interactive Living Studies, of the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo.

Instead of dealing with the aesthetic aspects of the acoustic environment, the evolution of listening habits or cultural representations of urban noise, sound will be considered as a means for action and social practice. This paper tries to develop a praxiological approach to sound. To do so, two major obstacles must be overcome. On the one hand, it is necessary to challenge the three main socially recognized categories of sounds: music, speech and noise. Some fields of research have widened their domains or even reconsidered their basic premise in order to integrate certain phenomena previously neglected by the traditional scientific disciplines. We will convey that even if these new perspectives bring us closer to our daily experience of sounds, they still remain insufficient to fully account for sounding as acting. On the other hand, the pragmatic dimension of the acoustic environment has been largely under-estimated until now. Most research studies focus on symbolic, aesthetic or cultural aspects of audition, but very rarely recognizes it as a practical and contextual accomplishment. From this point of view, anthropology of everyday sounds could take advantage of what sociology of action and ecological psychology have to offer in this matter. It becomes more and more urgent to open the field of acoustics to the most recent results of human sciences. How is it possible to consider sounding as acting ? How does the acoustic environment afford and implement coordinated action ? What is the relationship between everyday sounds and ordinary practices ? These questions aim at overcoming a purely representational approach to the acoustic environment and raise a number of issues that can be briefly reviewed.

Open Book Publishers, 2022

Engaging With Everyday Sounds is a rich and inspiring exploration of the role of sounds in everyday life, including their impact on human actions, emotions, and imagination. Marcel Cobussen intertwines sonic studies with philosophy, sound art, sociology and more to create an impressively lucid and innovative guide to sonic materialism, calling for a re-sensitization to our acoustic environment and arguing that everyday sounds have (micro)political, social, and ethical impact to which we should attend. Exploring the intellectual history of sound studies as well as local, global, and temporal sonic geographies, Cobussen weaves audio files, images, and journal excerpts into his work to create a multimodal monograph that explores the relationships of humans, nonhumans, and their environments through sound. This accessible and interdisciplinary collection of short, powerful essays will be valuable reading for both academics and the general reader interested in sound studies, sound art, philosophy, or the sociology of everyday life—and for anyone keen to think about the sonic in new and engaging ways.

New Sound, 2012

This paper deals with the issues of possible relationships between the categories of exteriority and interiority in the soundscape of contemporary city life. The aim is to try and map complex relationships between these categories and to show how they are maintained in everyday life through the micropolitics of sound, especially during listening to the quotidian noise of a city and noise music.

2018

Noise is a participatory art piece inviting audiences to explore impact of urban noises interactively. Using specific urban sound sources, the audience experiences noise as spatial soundscapes, responding to it, physically engaging and interacting with it. KIMA: Noise creates awareness for the phenomenon of noise pollution. The paper looks at preeminent research in the field, and draws conclusions of how sound affects us as individuals. The art project KIMA: Noise is introduced technically and conceptually.

Journal of The Acoustical Society of America, 2008

2021

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2020

2016

In The Music of the Environment [1] R Murray Schafer gives examples of good and bad acoustic design and the way these might affect people’s moods or potentially act as a ‘harmonising influence’. Building upon these ideas, researchers have begun to explore the potential of soundscape management to have a profound impact on the sorts of behaviour observed in these environments. This project’s initial experiment explored the positive effects of soundscapes on crowd behaviour [2]. The case study called ‘West Street Story’ was a night-noise intervention pilot. It tested a 3D outdoor ambient sound installation and what effect this might have on levels of anti-social behaviour and sense of security. Police feedback from the event confirmed how much ‘quieter’ the area was than normal, to the extent that they were confident enough to redeploy forces elsewhere in the city. Building upon these findings, a more scientifically controlled investigation of similar themes was conducted in a pedestr...