Welcome to the group Barry:
Your book sounds very interesting: I will have to read it when I get
the chance.
What do you mean by "Only now can we do the same for aural environments"?
If there was a spot in a cave where the soundscape was such as to
reveal some important acoustic information regarding the surrounding
environment, then maybe that would be a great place to draw something
on the wall to communicate "listen here" to future passersby. I'm
sure cave artists, even many thousands of years ago, figured out ways
to get important messages regarding the acoustics of a space across to
their contemporaries.
John Hartog
--- In "Barry Blesser"
<> wrote:
>
> Dear Colleague,
>
> Now that we have the technology available to record natural sounds,
we can
> preserve our soundscapes, which parallels the century old tradition of
> paintings and photographs. Cave art captured an image of ancient
> environments. Only now can we do the same for aural environments.
However,
> recording a soundscape, which includes spatial acoustics as well as
natural
> sounds is not trivial or even possible. Those that have been
recording music
> in concert halls during the last century are well aware that spatial
> acoustics is extremely important and extremely difficult to record.
>
> What we experience when we walk through a forest listening to the
sounds of
> birds includes nature's acoustic geography. Forests have there own
unique
> reverberation, including sonic turbulence, thermal inversion sound
channels,
> diffused reflections, and so on.
>
> During my 5 years of research into auditory spatial awareness, which is
> discussed in my book Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural
> Architecture, I considered the importance of the aural properties of
spaces
> within which the sound source and listener exist. There is strong, but
> speculative, evidence that most species are very aware of nature's aural
> architecture.
>
> My book established the foundation for cultural earcons but I need
help in
> advancing the discussion. Additional information about the book can
be found
> at the MIT Press web site:
> http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=3D2&tid=3D10947 an=
d I
> will send a copy of the Introduction and Table of Contents to anyone who
> requests them.
>
> I would be delighted to open a dialog on how those who are recording
natural
> sounds are dealing with the issue of natural acoustics.
>
> Barry Blesser (former MIT Prof)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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