Careful Listening · posted by vaibhav bhawsar Jan 29, 2008

Sounds as durations, textures, intensities in my work environment.

Durations
Made the sounds coherent to the listening mind. Too short and the mind would have to fill the gaps. Whereas long continuous sounds, such as hum emanating from a air vent, would eventually recede, the mind would stop paying attention.

Textures
Textures arouse curiosity. Much like a game where you would go chasing after a sound, trying to catch up and experience its richness. In my environment it was hard to find rich textures like flowing water, footsteps on grainy soil- lack of a better word the sounds that emerge from phenomena in nature. There were as an abundance of high pitched repetitive sounds from phones, beepers, sirens etc. Most of these emanating from electronic devices or machines. The sounds someone turning pages of a book were delightful.

Intensities
Repetition, duration greatly affect the perceived intensity of a sound. As I moved away from my immediate (louder) sounds, I could only hear rumbling sounds of moving traffic a block away from my workplace.
working.mp3
velcro.wav (sound of hook and loop (velcro) opening)