Voices in the Soundscape: From Cellphones to Soundscape Composition

Speech is arguably the most basic form of human communication, but since the 20 century it has become an increasingly disembodied element within the soundscape through amplification, recording and broadcasting. However the same technology that eliminates the face-to-face role of speechwithin the acoustic community, making it part of the soundscape, has also provided the means for a creative use of vocal material in electroacoustic composition. Just as the concept of “soundscape” embraces all forms of sound and emphasizes how sound is understood by listeners, so too soundscape composition creates simulated environments of sound within which the distinctions between voice, music and environmental sound are blurred. Examples are drawn from the work of the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University and the author’s electro-vocal soundscape compositions.