Listening to traffic with guts and antennae

Andra McCartney

pp. 233-241

in: Milena Droumeva, Randolph Jordan (eds), Sound, media, ecology, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

After soundwalks, there is always talk about traffic. Other topics come and go, but this one seems ubiquitous, like the sound in our daily lives. The quality of attention invoked in soundwalks encourages heightened listening to and reflection on the vibrations and flows of road traffic, the most constant sounds of many places. This paper explores soundwalking from an emplaced sensorial methodology by asking the following questions: How do resonant bodies sense vibrations of traffic and make sense of them? What kinds of prostheses and practices are used to do this, and how do these technological processes affect daily sonic experiences of traffic, urban design that pays attention to sound, and the creation and reception of sonic artworks involving traffic?