Introduction

Acoustic ecology, sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape ecology, is a discipline that studies, through sound, the relationship between humans and their environment.

A soundscape refers to the auditory environment as experienced by humans. The acoustic environment encompasses all the sound sources, both natural and man-made, present in a specific area as altered by the environment.

Soundscapes may include anthropophony, geophony and biophony of a particular environment.

Anthropophony: all sound produced by humans, whether coherent (e.g., music, language, etc.) or incoherent (e.g., random signals generated primarily by electromechanical means).

Geophony: the naturally occurring non-biological sounds coming from different types of habitats, whether marine or terrestrial (e.g., water, wind, thunder, volcano eruptions, etc.).

Biophony: the collective acoustic signatures generated by all sound-producing organisms in a given habitat at a given moment, including vocalizations for communication in some cases.

Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans).

Topics

Field Recording

Field recording is the production of audio recordings outdoors, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. Field recording of natural sounds, also called phonography (a term chosen because of the similarity of the practice to photography), was originally developed as a documentary adjunct to research work in the field, and Foley work for film.

Sound Walk

A sound walk is a listening exercise where participants move through an environment, focusing on the sounds around them and their acoustic experience of the space. Sound walks encourage the participants to listen discriminatively, and to make critical judgments about the sounds heard and their contribution to the balance or imbalance of the sonic environment.

Shinrin-yoku (森林浴: 森林 shinrin, "forest" + 浴 yoku, "bath, bathing") is a Japanese practice that can relate to sound walks. Practicing shinrin-yoku involves spending time in a forest or natural atmosphere, focusing on sensory engagement to connect with nature.

Sound Map

A sound map links audio recordings to specific geographic locations, helping users develop a more nuanced understanding of the acoustic properties and sonic identities of different places. Sound maps can serve as digital archives, preserving the sonic heritage of communities and environments, which can be particularly valuable for documenting endangered or rapidly changing soundscapes.

Preparation

Application

OsmAnd is an open-source map and navigation app for Android and iOS, alternative to Google Maps. It uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) map database for its primary displays, but is an independent app not endorsed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. It is available in both free and paid versions;

Installation

Use the appropriate app store for your device to install the free version of OsmAnd

Apple App Store

Google Play Store

Huawei App Gallery

Map

OsmAnd can be used offline once maps of interest have been downloaded on the device. If Location is enabled in the smart phone's settings, OsmAnd will automatically detect the current location and prompt the user to download the map for that region. Accept and proceed. Please note that the free version only allows to download 7 maps.

Settings

Adjust privacy options such as analytics and identifiers in the settings

Itinerary

Use points of interest (POI) selected in advance to outline an itinerary along the track

Record

Record an audio note for a point of interest

All recorded audio notes are saved in the My Places

Preview