This survey seeks to crowdsource examples of sounds that are meaningful to people from different parts of the world. The focus is on sounds (but not music) which are meaningful to you personally and/or that you consider culturally important. These can be connected to a very specific area (village, district) or have a wider range (regional/national). They can be natural sounds or they can be human-made sounds, they can be isolated sounds or combined sounds, and they may also include the acoustics of spaces. For example, some people in villages in Spain mention the sounds of specific bells as culturally and personally significant. Other respondents might wish to reflect on natural sounds, such as specific birds. You choose what is significant to you. I am interested in what matters to different people, there’s no sound small or big enough to reflect on. I am also interested in stories of migration and relocation and how this might have an impact on which sounds people value and/or remember from where they used to live and from where they live now.
The survey is available in different languages, thanks to the help of staff and students from the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of York. Please note that responses in English and Spanish will be reflected on in their original language. Responses in other languages will need to be processed with AI tools approved by the University of York – I don’t like this to be honest, but I wished to make the survey as inclusive as possible and it was not possible to secure translators for the collected responses, only the original forms. All links are below. Huge thanks!
Mariana J Lopez 