Sound is Not a Simulation - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 49

sound as side Effect Our relationship to the

Modern soundscape

One of the areas in which noise pollution has
focused on within the urban soundscape is that
of the motor vehicle, which is seen as a major
contributor to increased sound levels within cities
and towns. Bijsterveld's (2004) historical analysis
of noise laws, highlight the increasingly negative
public opinion directed towards the motor vehicle
since the turn of the century. The city was increas-
ingly seen as a space which had once held silence
and that this silence needed to be regained, either
through the removal of motor vehicles or severe
noise laws. Yet, over the decades, a relationship
has developed between motorists and the sounds
of their vehicles, an idea which is being explored
by Paul Jennings. Jennings' (2009) research fo-
cuses on the positive aspects of sounds produced
by cars, from the sound of the door shutting, to
the sounds of a petrol engine. He explores the
various ways of simulating the sounds emitted
by cars; studies have revealed that drivers have
developed a relationship to the sounds produced
by cars such as power, control, and drivability
and so on. Simultaneously further research has
shown that car sounds exterior to the vehicle are
an important factor to visual orientation, particu-
larly to the blind, hard of sight and cyclists (“Fake
Engine Noises” 2008). The sound of a vehicle has
become an inherent part of the urban soundscape
and it is used to measure distance, speed, and time.
In virtual terms, this association to a vehicle's
individual soundscape has new meaning. If, for
example, the hybrid car (electric and petrol and
very quiet) becomes more prevalent in society,
will we change the perceived soundscape of the
urban space? For decades, we have associated
the sounds of cities with vehicles and they have
become a significant part of the urban soundscape,
an ambience that defines the metropolis. If this
sound disappears what effect might this have on
our relationship to both the city and its transport?

Industrialisation has had a major impact on civili-
sation, and the association of sound to production
is seen as implicit. If we introduce noise abate-
ment laws to tackle sound levels we ignore the
relationship that has evolved between humans
and the sounds of mechanisation and industriali-
sation. In our concern for the soundscape and its
possible effects on humans we may change our
soundscape to create a perceived better sound level
or quality, but ultimately we might also change
the relationship people now have to cities or in-
dustrial centres. It is necessary to fully understand
the relationship that groups and individuals have
to the urban soundscape, specifically the sounds
that are reminders of its urbanity, economy, and
population as well as its activities. MacLaran
(2003) argues that the urban space is increasingly
becoming partitioned and that the individual in-
creasingly tries to locate a private space in which
to claim ownership. With geographic boundaries
becoming increasingly part of the urban space,
defined by economics, politics and as a reaction
to overpopulation, the urban space is increasingly
seen as a “mirror of the societies that engender
them” (MacLaran, 2003, p. 67).
Yet Thompson (1995) suggests that a chang-
ing landscape is part and parcel of the urban
metropolis, people have and will adapt to further
architectural or cultural shifts within urban areas,
creating new cultures and social movements that
stand alongside these changes to the landscape.
What is not considered by these researchers is that
a city is more than its visual or geographical cues.
Thompson argues that within the media, partic-
ularly the internet, new social structures will form
within virtual spaces, and these will, to a certain
extent, replace the physical world in developing
community and place which is increasingly seen
as crowded. Yet within mediated environments
and the real world there is no real consideration
to the soundscape and its importance as a social