Sounding Out Normative and Colour-Blind Listening in Acoustic Ecology

Abstract

Background: The field of acoustic ecology emerged from Simon Fraser University in the late 1960s during which time R. Murray Schafer and the World Soundscape Project studied everyday soundscapes and the rise of urban noise. While it was an innovative approach to understanding the relationship between humans and their environments, it reproduced the dominant frameworks of this period. Analysis: This article argues that contemporary acoustic ecology discourse continues to frame noise, silence, and urban acoustic design through a white normative and colour-blind listening framework. This article examines dominant authorship and citation practices within leading journals that publish soundscape literature as well as sound mapping practices. Conclusion: After also surveying seldom-cited soundscape research that interrogates the environmental listening and sound-making practices of BIPOC and marginalized communities, the article concludes that there is a need for contemporary soundscape research to incorporate more intersectional and decolonial modes of environmental listening.