Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape

This article presents a unifying theory of soundscape ecology, which brings the idea of the soundscape-the collection of sounds that emanate from landscapes-into a research and application focus. Our conceptual framework of soundscape ecology is based on the causes and consequences of biological (biophony), geophysical (geophony), and human-produced (anthrophony) sounds. We argue that soundscape ecology shares many parallels with landscape ecology, and it should therefore be considered a branch of this maturing field. We propose a research agenda for soundscape ecology that includes six areas: (1) measurement and analytical challenges, (2) spatial-temporal dynamics, (3) soundscape linkage to environmental…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• EL
  Eli Lilly and Company
• PU
  Purdue University
• MS
  Michigan State University
• CO
  College of Engineering, Michigan State University