Nick Luscombe from OIST Sonic Lab

 speaks with Rosie Perkins, who is Professor of Music, Health, and Social Science at the Royal College of Music London (RCM). Rosie’s research investigates two broad areas within music and mental health: how music and the arts support societal wellbeing and how to enhance musicians’ wellbeing and career development. Rosie has particular interest in music and parental mental health, founding and co-leading the Music and Parental Wellbeing Research Network which fosters novel, international, and interdisciplinary collaborations to explore the role of music in supporting parental wellbeing. Rosie’s work has been supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Arts Council England, British Academy, Dutch Research Council, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and has featured in a wide range of international journals and press. Rosie is an honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London and a Fellow of AdvanceHE (FHEA) and the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). In 2019, Rosie was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music (HonRCM).

This episode of the OIST Sonic Lab podcast features a conversation with Dr Miles Parsons who is a research scientist at The Australian Institute of Marine Science. Miles is doing some pioneering work in the oceans in Western Australia, including the use of sound to help revitalise degraded reefs.  

To find out more:  https://www.aims.gov.au

Here at OIST Sonic Lab we have a deep fascination with sound, and it's a passion shared by this podcast episode`s guest, writer Caspar Henderson. His latest book, A Book of Noises - Notes on the Auraculous, is a captivating read and a wonderful contribution to the discussion about the importance of deeper listening.

Link to Nick Luscombe BBC Radio programme about the hypersonic effect: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kh53

Link to Book of Noises: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo200525016.html

This episode of the podcast features the first Sonic Lab production, played back in full.  An Okinawa Sound Portrait,  created for the Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island in Okinawa,  was created using only sounds from Okinawa and around the concept of 24 hours on the island, both on land and in the ocean. It also features the sanshin of Aragaki Mutsumi and is designed to enhance a sense of relaxation as it tells the story of the island through a sonically rich and diverse soundscape.

In this episode, OIST Sonic Lab Artistic Director Nick Luscombe hosts a panel discussion recorded in front of a live audience at CIC Tokyo entitled, "The Science of Sound and Well-being." The speakers include Mark James, a cognitive scientist and philosopher working at OIST, Hikari Sandhu, a Tokyo based music therapist, and sound recordist and producer James Greer.

Together, they discuss each of their backgrounds, work and research and tap into their areas of expertise and experience.

Following on from our discussion about Uchinaaguchi in episode 2 with Misato Matsuda and Chiaki Chibana, Nick Luscombe chats with Professor Patrick Heinrich, of Ca'Foscari University, in Milan, Italy. Professor Heinrich is an expert in the field of Sociolinguistics, Japanese Studies and Language Endangerment and his recent paper presents data showing that speakers of a Uchinaaguchi in Yomitan village, Okinawa, report higher rates of well-being.

In this episode we explore how language is key to creating strong and happy communities. Nick Luscombe speaks with Misato Matsuda and Chiaki Chibana, who are both based at OIST, and are passionate about promoting Uchinaaguchi across Okinawa. They detail the history of the language and their own personal connections to Uchinaaguchi, and also explain why they believe it has the power to create a greater sense of well-being.  

In this first edition of the OIST Sonic Lab Podcast, OIST Sonic Lab Artistic Director, Nick Luscombe, introduces the lab's first project - an audio/visual work based on the sights and sounds of Okinawa.

Featuring contributions from fellow sound producer James Greer, Okinawa based artist Ichiro Kikuta and Cassondra George from the OIST's research project "OKinawa Environmental Observation Network (OKEON)."

• For information about OKEON https://www.oist.jp/sdg/project/okeon-okinawa-environmental-observation-network

• Ichiro Kikuta - http://kikutaichiro.com

• The soundtrack also features the sanshin of Mutsumi Aragaki- https://en.aragakimutsumi.com

• For more information about this project please visit https://www.oist.jp/sonic-lab