Project 2: Psycho-geographic Maps
“Sound”
The human hearing range is an account of the pitches and loudness levels one can hear before experiencing inconvenience. There is an array of sounds in our environment, varying from imperceptible sounds like the dropping of a needle or a piece of paper to ear-piercing sounds like a woman’s scream, dogs barking, and a car honking. This human hearing range is called the audible range. As far as loudness is concerned, humans can generally begin to hear at 0 dB. Sounds that are greater than 85 dB can be a threat to your hearing in the instance of lengthened exposure.
The main research question that I based my project on was “When do our surroundings become a threat to us?” The idea of this project is to give people a better understanding of noise pollution and to make them more aware of its consequences. I chose to do my research on the noise levels at Union Square Park. I visited the park everyday for one week at different timings to observe the change in the number of people and traffic. I found that the park was most crowded around 5pm and the traffic was the most around that time as well. Therefore I chose to begin my study at that time. I chose a start and end point at the park and began to walk. While I walked through the park, I recorded the surrounding sounds on my phone which I used later for reference. On the next day, I revisited the park; This time with an app, Decibel Meter Pro, which is an app that measures the loudness of a particular sound. I then followed the same path I took the day before while measuring the loudness.
On my 3D map you can see a drawing of the paths in the park placed over the aerial view of the park that I found using google maps. The colorful icons placed at certain points on the map indicate the sections of the park that are smaller divisions or parks rather, such as the dog park or the children’s playground. The little white book-like pieces show the loudness in decibels and how much discomfort they can cause. I chose to do my project in 3D because I thought it would be much less chaotic and easier for people to understand my project and its main idea. I didn’t want people to have to use any sort of keys or think too much while trying to understand the concept of loudness in relation with surroundings.
I compared the values of loudness to the values of other sounds to see how harmful it could be to people’s hearing. It was quite shocking to see that even though it was a park, the sounds could potentially harm one’s hearing if prolonged.
Final pieces:
Steps to Completion:
Mind map-
Rough Sketch of the Park-
Park History-
Making of the map on illustrator-
Adding text to map-
Inserting indicators-
Group Research:
Union Square: Sound Revealed
Union Square; a center of culture, expression and city life. This small square holds every aspect of New York. All one needs to do is close their eyes and listen. The banging of the drums and the chants of the religious, the myriad of accents wafting through the air as people from every culture interact with one another, the random snippets of music from musicians serenading the crowds, the quiet rustle of the wind through the trees as its journey is slowed through the city of skyscrapers, the children’s giggles as they play in the park alongside the dogs barking, even the padding of the thousands of feet can be heard as they tread through the park or into the subway. It is these sounds that create a scene, a set image, one that when missing would deconstruct and disorientate those who visit it.
We decided to divide the park into sections, each of which holds a differing perspective, a different type of sound. There were 8 main sections; the subway area, the dog park, the playground, the social/sitting areas, the music/musicians, the market place, and the surrounding streets. Through a series of recordings we found varied noises in each section of the park.
We started to investigate these sections by walking around the park and making diagrams to indicate the main noise areas. Afterwards, we made a second round to record data. The first section was the subway, which basically included sounds of moving trains, the gushes of air, and the rush of people walking down the stairs. Moving on, there was the dog park where dog owners gave orders to their dogs, and there was the sound of barking and running against the sandy dirt. Later, there was the playground which was pretty much filled with energetic voices and swift movements. Nearby, was the social area, which was pretty much small conversations between individuals as well as the sound of wrappers and food packaging and newspaper. The market was calm, and there were conversations between the buyers and sellers. Finally the surrounding streets were filled with honking, car noises, buses and crowds walking.
These 8 sections are all very particular, yet they all fit into the same park. We believe that there are many ways we could interpret our findings.