The theme I developed for World Listening Day 2022 is “Listening Across Boundaries.” Choose your own adventure with this free audio file or free script to lead your own event to connect with your soundscape and listen across boundaries. Here is an open link to a google drive folder that contains
the full guided audio as .wav or .mp3
a script to lead your own event as google doc or pdf
a coral reef sound clip as an optional inclusion to play during your script reading
This soundwalk style experience can be completed while walking, or staying still, indoors or outdoors, alone or with a group. If you use the audio file, find a location where you can listen without headphones.
If you use these materials, let me know how it goes!
World Listening Day is celebrated every year on July 18th. Check out the World Listening Project website to learn more and to register your events, or sign up to participate in events.
Here is the theme description I developed, I hope you will make it your own and find even more ways to Listen Across Boundaries:
The theme for World Listening Day 2022 “Listening Across Boundaries” invites us to explore the role of listening across branches of knowledge including scientific, medical, and musical purposes; how natural soundscapes do not recognize human-drawn boundaries of protected areas or countries; listening across cultures; the remarkableness and challenges of listening virtually; and seeming limitations or barriers to listening that can be overcome.
Some sound transmission channels are expanding across geographical and technological boundaries – especially in the virtual realm – and we need to adapt to best seek opportunities. Some listening spaces are seemingly limited by pandemic precautions, yet have untapped potential. Other areas and ways of listening are unexplored, waiting to be discovered, hiding insights at intersections of boundaries and unheard perspectives. As more of the world becomes interconnected and online, it is important to be inclusive of all peoples of the world who have not had as much voice at the table. Climate change shifts ecological and biome boundaries, forcing migrations of flora, fauna, and people. It is imperative to document and listen to existing and changing soundscapes.
As we listen across boundaries, in ways previously unimaginable, we gain respect and insights, and connect.
Posted on July 15th, 2022 by Heather
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Today we announced that the theme for World Listening Day 2022 will be “Listening Across Boundaries.” I’m super excited to have been chosen as the theme creator for this year and that my choice of theme seems to resonate with so many and in such interesting directions.
World Listening Day is celebrated every year on July 18th.
Check out the World Listening Project website to learn more and to register your events, or sign up to participate in events.
Here is the theme description I developed:
The theme for World Listening Day 2022 “Listening Across Boundaries” invites us to explore the role of listening across branches of knowledge including scientific, medical, and musical purposes; how natural soundscapes do not recognize human-drawn boundaries of protected areas or countries; listening across cultures; the remarkableness and challenges of listening virtually; and seeming limitations or barriers to listening that can be overcome.
Some sound transmission channels are expanding across geographical and technological boundaries – especially in the virtual realm – and we need to adapt to best seek opportunities. Some listening spaces are seemingly limited by pandemic precautions, yet have untapped potential. Other areas and ways of listening are unexplored, waiting to be discovered, hiding insights at intersections of boundaries and unheard perspectives. As more of the world becomes interconnected and online, it is important to be inclusive of all peoples of the world who have not had as much voice at the table. Climate change shifts ecological and biome boundaries, forcing migrations of flora, fauna, and people. It is imperative to document and listen to existing and changing soundscapes.
As we listen across boundaries, in ways previously unimaginable, we gain respect and insights, and connect.
Posted on April 15th, 2022 by Heather
Posted in **News**, sound-noise-music|Comments Off on World Listening Day 2022: Listening Across Boundaries
Mark Ballora, a dear friend and collaborator, was a pioneer in acoustics and “sonification” of data. A memorial service is being held this weekend at Penn State, where he was a professor of music technology.
Naturally I collected my thoughts about carrying forward his energy and vision in musical form. This short composition (<2.5 min) incorporates a musical cipher of his name, coral reef sounds, and audio recordings he made of me pitched at his vocal frequency, as a symbol of my dedication to seeing his voice, missions, and work are carried forward.
Mark and I met at a National Academies Keck Futures Initiative conference and are in the middle of a NAKFI grant on sonifying ocean data: “Layers of Meaning: How the Ocean’s Natural Acoustics and the Music of its Datasets Can Reveal Hidden Connections”
Photos: (c) Kevin Allen Photo
National Academies DASER program on sound and the deep blue sea
Left to right, Mark Ballora, Aaron Rice, Heather Spence
Posted on September 27th, 2019 by Heather
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National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Announces Winners of the NAKFI Challenge
WASHINGTON — The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is pleased to announce the recipients of three $500,000 NAKFI Challenge awards. A 15-year, $40 million dollar program funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation, NAKFI was initiated in 2003 to break down barriers between fields and to promote interdisciplinary research. The NAKFI Challenge awards support activities that will carry forward NAKFI’s work beyond its 15 years as an activity of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Open only to NAKFI alumni who participated in the program’s annual interdisciplinary conferences, the call for proposals generated 78 applications. Applications underwent a round of peer-to-peer community judging by fellow applicants. The 30 highest scoring proposals were then judged by an expert panel consisting of members of NAKFI conference organizing committees. The three winners were chosen by the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.
The recipients, with NAKFI alumni in bold, and their project titles are:
Jody Deming, University of Washington
* Fiscal agent for grant, Djerassi Residents Artists Program Daniel Kohn, Kohnworkshop Heather R. Spence, Marine & Bioacoustics Programs, Michelle’s Earth Foundation (GRACIASS) Jonathan Berger, Stanford University Timothy J. Broderick, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Margot H. Knight, Djerassi Residents Artists Program Timothy W. Weaver, University of Denver Ocean Memory: A New Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Global-Scale Challenges Memory involves the recall of events, pruned and processed from countless recordings by neural networks and thereby shaping future behavior. The ocean and its inhabitants hold memories of events throughout the evolution of the planet, awaiting our cognition. This proposal established a thriving community exploring and expressing Ocean Memory, a new line of highly evocative scientific inquiry , aiming for a sea change in our ability to address challenges of the Anthropocene. The approach builds upon NAKFI best practices, spanning disciplines required to address agents of memory and adding novel elements of distributed interactive spaces and grants for cross-disciplinary mentoring.
Catch Marine Biologist Dr. Heather Spence on Nat Geo Wild’s show When Sharks Attack: Season 4 Episode 5 “Mayhem in Mexico” in which she explores the impact of sound on shark behavior.
Don’t let the name of the show put you off – there’s a lot of good info and pro shark messaging! #SharkWeek #SharkFest #FriendsOfSharks
As part of my ongoing work on Ocean Memory, on July 8 2018 at noon I will present a new composition for live solo cello with recorded coral reef soundscape composition entitled ‘Reef Recall.’ The piece explores past crustacean and fish conversations in the context of natural and human-imposed cycles. The performance is sponsored by the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and DC Listening Lounge ‘Sound Scene XI: Mapping Memory’.
Posted on June 13th, 2018 by Heather
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Sound is central to dolphin lives. They use sound not only for communication, but also to “see” using echolocation!
You can learn more about sound in the environment and have a good time by going on a Sound Walk:
Choose a location. Any location. Alone or with a group.
Close your eyes and listen to any sounds you hear.
Now open your eyes and move to another nearby location. Do the same thing.
What sounds are the same? What sounds are different?
Try to describe the sounds. What is the source of the sound? What does the sound “sound” like?
What sounds are produced by living creatures? By machines?
Which sounds seem pleasant? Unpleasant?
Keep going as long as you can! You can also try multiple locations, indoors or outdoors.
You’ll be amazed at the things you discover when you actively focus on the wealth of sonic information that is all around us!
Spread the word and raise awareness of noise pollution and the importance of sound to dolphins!
Posted on April 14th, 2017 by Heather
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In March I had the honor and privilege to curate and moderate a panel on Sound and the Sea at the National Academy of Sciences, as part of the DASER series. Bringing together science, music, policy and more we explored the ocean as a world of sound and how we can better respect and listen to it.
Videos of the presentations are now up on you tube -check them out!
