Acoustic Ecology

First off I was very surprised to hear that Acoustic Ecology was a field of study because I had simply never heard of it. It was interesting to read about though, because it made me flashback to the mediafast when I could have my headphones in wherever I went so I was forced to listen to natural sound. It was odd to me because I had spent so much time in the past tuning it out because I’m mostly used to hearing girls chat on their phone on campus, or hearing traffic sounds but campus is more tranquil in the summer. To be honest, it made me feel bad to read/watch all this stuff about learning to listen to our surroundings as I flood my ears with rock music and try to ignore the soundscape around me. It caught me off guard in the listen video when he stopped talking; all I could hear was the light tapping of my roommate’s keyboard. Its weird to considerate that we are always surrounded by a different kind of ambient noise wherever we go. But it’s also ridiculous to hear that Harley and Davidson patented the sound of their motors and sued Honda over it. The world of frivolous lawsuits has now reached the soundscape, great. Anyways, it makes me feel sad to realize I am flooded with sound almost everywhere. It’s getting increasingly more difficult to be able to go to a forest and just listen to the sound of nature without some obnoxious city sound seeping its way into your ears. I guess that’s the world we live in, makes me wish there was more silence. Thought this image protaryed the soundscape well: