The Rest Is Just Noise

Today we have a just-long-enough chat with Drs. Edda Bild and Dan Steele from McGill University about their various soundscape intervention projects. They'll take us through installing free-to-use speakers in a small park in Montreal to testing out different water feature installations, with many rambling rants in between!

Papers discussed: Soundtracking the Public Space: Outcomes of the Musikiosk Soundscape Intervention

Find more from Dan and Edda here: https://www.sounds-in-the-city.org/en/overview/
@villesonore

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

In light of the UK's newly proposed policing bill which aims to impose noise limits and other new restrictions on protests, we bring you a special episode. Recorded a month before news of the bill came out, our host Andrew spoke with sociologist and soundscape researcher Edda Bild about 'sonic appropriation' - how people, particularly protesters and those in marginalised communities, can exert control over their sonic environments. Find out why it matters that people can exert this sonic appropriation over their spaces and some of the history of how it has been regulated and restricted.

This episode was intended to be a short follow up to our main episode in April, when it would've been very cleverly titled a 'Background Noise' episode, but it was so topical we decided to release it early. Make sure to check back in for that main episode about Edda's work with the Musikiosk project!

Read more about the UK Policing Bill here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56400751
See what it might mean in practice in a blog post by Susan Witterick, at DBX Acoustics: https://www.dbxacoustics.com/protest-noise/

Find more about Edda and her team here: https://www.sounds-in-the-city.org/en/team/

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

The International Year of Sound is a global initiative to highlight the importance of sound in all aspects of life and to promote an understanding of sound-related issues at the national and international level.

2020 was the International Year of Sound, but it may have been just a tad overshadowed by certain other events that year. Luckily, it carried on and adapted, and has been extended into 2021. This episode, we speak with the steering committee behind it and learn why the Year of Sound is important and what to look forward to in 2021!

Find the IYOS at their website here: https://sound2020.org/

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

How do we measure sound perception? How can scientists quantify something so subjective?

Dr Sarah Payne walks us through how scales for soundscape are adapted from visual research. We'll discuss a whole range of scales and theories, like Attention Restoration Theory (ART), Perceived Restorative-ness Scale (PRS), Restorative Components Scale (RCS). But really, the highlight might just be her tips on creating a great acronym, like DESTRESS - (Designing and Engineering Soundscapes To enable Restorative Environments for Sustainable Societies) - bravo!

Find more from Sarah at @ThinkSnowflakes
Follow the DeStress project at @DeStressRestore and https://destress.hw.ac.uk/

Find Sarah's paper here: The Production of a Perceived Restorativeness Soundscape Scale 

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Today we speak with Dr Ellie Ratcliffe, "Queen of the Birds"!
Can bird sounds help us recover psychologically? What do we even mean by that? And what is it about specific sounds that we find pleasing?

Ellie will walk us through all that and more as we discuss her paper Predicting the Perceived Restorative Potential of Bird Sounds Through Acoustics and Aesthetics.

Find more from Ellie at @el_ratcliffe

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Meet our hosts and our podcast! In this introductory episode we introduce Andrew, Francesco, and Tin and clue you in to what you can expect to hear about on The Rest Is Just Noise.

You'll hear about how each of our hosts found their way from architecture, physics, and music into the world of sound and some of the interesting stories about sound that they have encountered along the way.

Stay tuned for the first episode "The Birds" with Dr. Ellie Ratcliffe, coming out January 5th!

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod

Papers and projects discussed
Historic soundscape in Naples: https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.4708901
Zadar Sea Organ: http://www.sonicwonders.org/sea-organ-zadar-croatia/
Soundscape research at UCL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/environmental-design/research-projects/2020/nov/soundscape-indices-ssid

This podcast is supported by the UK Acoustics Network (UKAN).

Find our website: https://www.justnoisepod.com/
Twitter: @JustNoisePod