The societal role of sound, and the ways in which we listen, are subject to historical transformation and are strongly intertwined with technological developments, but it is not a simple case of technology-driven change: the technologies do not pop out of thin air and influence how we listen, but are embedded in social relations and cultural practices. This research theme deals with questions such as: how did sound become orchestrated as a public problem, as expressed in the anti-noise movements of the twentieth century? Indeed, what cultural meanings did the inhabitants of cities give to their sonic surroundings in different time periods? How on earth has it been become possible that we value the car as a place in which to find peace and quiet, or to listen to our favourite music as if it is a mobile listening booth, even though it was still a highly noisy vehicle at the start of the twentieth century? And what is the role of sound in science?
Projects on technological cultures of sound
- Hidden Ears: Wiretapping, Eavesdropping, and Analyzing Sonic Information, 1960s–the present
- Listen Closely: Innovating Participation in Symphonic Music
- Artful Participation: Doing Artistic Research with Symphonic Music Audiences
- Listening on Display: Exhibiting Sound Art 1960s-now
- Talking You Through: Traffic Information and Car Radio, 1950s-now
- History of sound: a Smart Audiobook for the Car
- A New Baroque Organ for the 21st Century
- Sonic skills: sound and listening in the development of science, technology and medicine (1920s-now)
- Sonic Skills: Sonification of Scientific Data
- Sonic Skills: Listening to Machines
- Sonic Skills: Recording and Listening Practices in the Biology of Bird Song
- Sonic Skills: Sensory Skills in Laboratory Practice
- Sonic Skills: Listening in the Hospital
- Soundscapes of the urban past: staged sound as mediated cultural heritage
- Selling sound: the standardization of sound in the European car industry and the hidden integration of Europe
- Sound Technologies & Cultural Practices