Sound and levels of annoyance

Last week I experienced two completely different soundscapes. First it was Queensday in Amsterdam, which means a whole day of loud music, masses on the streets, shouting children, overdriven speakers and boat horns. A day on which my head had to stand a lot of sonic pressure.

I spent the weekend in a forest in Belgium, with no one around except for a casual walker, enjoying the oxygen-filled forest air in spring. A complete opposite of the screaming city soundscape I experienced two days before.

I need silence at times. After a long day of teaching, traveling or working on a sound design project I don’t switch on my stereo when I get home to listen to some new music. It’s like I can only handle a certain amount of sound a day, next to the fact that I don’t like to just play some music without being able to really pay attention to it.

Sitting on a grass field in the forest I was surprised though by what I heard. It wasn’t that quiet at all. A soft breeze caused rustling waves in the leaves of the trees, and the birds, they were singing like crazy. And they were everywhere, the pheasants on the ground and a variety of birds in the trees.

It actually was very loud, yet I was sitting there for half an hour without really paying attention to it, enjoying the peaceful relaxing surrounding. But why was it relaxing? If I had sounds at the same frequencies and with the same volume of the birds in my house, it would surely drive me crazy in no time.

What’s causing this tolerance for natural sounds? Why don’t they start to annoy me like a car stereo at the other side of the street, or the noise of people shouting in the distance? I can think of a few elements.

When I’m alone I hear no other person than myself. All the sounds present are made my me, and by nature itself, so it’s very easy to just accept this is how it is, and I can’t change it. No other person is annoying me, and no other person is responsible for what I hear.

When I open my eyes and see a heather field surrounded by trees, I expect to hear a certain soundscape that fits to what I see. That’s what I learned. I also associate this natural surrounding with recreation and relaxation, so I start associating the sounds with the feeling.

The nature of the sounds I hear in a forest is so much different than that of the average city soundscape, or sounds made by humans. Contemporary music is often based on repetitive material, and while many birds have a very limited repertoire, they never sound exactly the same, especially when their songs are combined with the rustling leaves.

Photo by altemark