Natural sounds

Natural sounds are sounds produced by natural sources in their normal soundscape. It is a category whose definition is open for discussion, see the section below. The category includes animal sounds, from the chirruping of crickets to the vocalizations of mammals. They would also include the sounds of other natural phenomena, such as water sounds; for example, the sound of rain falling on the ground or on water, the sound of a waterfall, a rushing river, waves lapping or rolling gravel on a shoreline; and wind sounds, such as the murmur of wind rustling the leaves in trees, the howling during a gale and the roar of a whirlwind. Natural elements include water, wind, thunder, the crack of large pieces of ice shearing from a glacier or iceberg, and the crackle of a forest fire. Such sounds may have contributed to the development of prehistoric music, and have important cultural references nowadays.

Definition

Humans are a product of nature thus could be considered part of nature. Sound produced by actions performed by humans should be included then, but where to draw the line: throwing a rock in a river, striking flints, chopping wood, hammering nails? Should man-made objects be included in the definition? Including combustion engines would probably go a step too far but maybe simple shelters wouldn't. Consider the sound of rain falling on the roof of a building: Is rain unnatural if it falls on a man-made building constructed with man-made materials? The answer is probably that it depends on the characteristic of the produced sound. If the sound of falling drops of water is predominant the sound is natural, if the sound of the material is predominant the sound is unnatural.

The category of natural sounds has no precise definition but is most useful to emphasize a dissimilarity between industrial or traffic-heavy soundscapes and park or forrest soundscapes. Sounds that could be seen as the most contrasting with natural sounds are beeps and blips from computers and modern cash registers.

Natural sounds are restricted to natural sources in their normal soundscape because clips of isolated natural sources are like sound bites: without context the sounds are prone to be misinterpreted.

Humans

Humans can benefit from natural environments to restore from stress and directed attention fatigue^[1]. A human can endure high levels of stress for short time periods as long as these periods are interrupted by restoration moments. ^[2].

While a natural environment provides more sensory input than the soundscape there are indications that the soundscape alone also affords restoration^[3]. A majority of humans indicate that they find natural sounds pleasurable^[4].

Animals

Warning sounds

These are sounds made by animals to warn others, of their species, of impending danger. Similar "warning" sounds are made by those of any unique species when a predator is approaching that species' territory, warning others to seek safety.

Territory sounds

These are sounds, calls, or audible signals made by any one species to its own or any other species, establishing boundaries so like or unlike species will not transgress those boundaries.

Male baboons make sounds heard for miles by other baboons, communicating to those other male baboons, the territory of that male baboon. The strength, volume, and timbre, inherent in that "call", determine whether or not rival males attempt to invade that male baboon's territory.

They do this to make them sound impressive and then to attract the female to them.

Courtship and/or mate attracting sounds

These are sounds made by the male baboon to attract females to his territory for courtship and mating. Again, the strength, quality, and timbre of those sounds, often determine the ability of that species to attract females for reproduction. These mating calls, often low and guttural, are the main criteria, used by the female baboon to determine which male she mates with.

Cultural references

The imitation of natural sounds in various cultures is a diverse phenomenon. and can fill in various functions. In several instances, it is related to the belief system, for example, imitation of natural sounds can be linked to various shamanistic beliefs or practice (e.g. yoiks of the Sami,^[5][6][7] some other shamanic songs and rituals,^{[8][9][10][11]} overtone singing of some cultures). It may serve also such practical goals as luring game in the hunt;^[12] or entertainment (katajjaqs of Inuit).^[12][13]

See also

• Animal communication
• Animal language
• Bioacoustics
• Bird song
• Soundscape
• Whale song

Notes

1. ^ Kaplan 1995
2. ^ Botteldooren et al. 2011
3. ^ Alvarsson et al. 2010
4. ^ Andringa
5. ^ Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 56, 76
6. ^ Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 64
7. ^ Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 74
8. ^ Hoppál 2006: 143
9. ^ Diószegi 1960: 203
10. ^ Hoppál 2005: 92
11. ^ Lintrop
12. ^ ^{a b} Nattiez: 5
13. ^ Deschênes 2002

References

• Kaplan, Stephen (1995). "The Restorative Benefits of Nature: Toward and Integrative Framework". Journal of Environmental Psychology: 169-182. 
• Alvarisson, Jesper J (2010). "Stress Recovery during Exposure to Nature Sound and Environmental Noise". International Journal for Environmental Restoration of Public Health: 1036-1046. 
• Deschênes, Bruno (2002). "Inuit Throat-Singing". Musical Traditions. The Magazine for Traditional Music Throughout the World. http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm. 
• Diószegi, Vilmos (1960) (in Hungarian). Sámánok nyomában Szibéria földjén. Egy néprajzi kutatóút története. Budapest: Magvető Könyvkiadó. http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02181.  The book has been translated to English: Diószegi, Vilmos (1968). Tracing shamans in Siberia. The story of an ethnographical research expedition. Translated from Hungarian by Anita Rajkay Babó. Oosterhout: Anthropological Publications. 
• Hoppál, Mihály (2005) (in Hungarian). Sámánok Eurázsiában. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-8295-3.  The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish. Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian).
• Hoppál, Mihály (2006). "Music of Shamanic Healing". In Gerhard Kilger. Macht Musik. Musik als Glück und Nutzen für das Leben. Köln: Wienand Verlag. ISBN 3-87909-865-4. http://dasa.baua.de/nn_35984/sid_2C8A99B3F31A58C62BBE3312986DC568/nsc_true/de/Presse/Pressematerialien/Sonderausstellung_20Macht_20Musik/Schamanen-Musik.pdf. 
• Lintrop, Aarno. "The Clean Tent Rite". Studies in Siberian shamanism and religions of the Finno-Ugric peoples. http://haldjas.folklore.ee/~aado/tent.htm. 
• Nattiez, Jean Jacques. Inuit Games and Songs • Chants et Jeux des Inuit. Musiques & musiciens du monde • Musics & musicians of the world. Montreal: Research Group in Musical Semiotics, Faculty of Music, University of Montreal. . The songs are online available from the ethnopoetics website curated by Jerome Rothenberg.
• Somby, Ánde (1995). "Joik and the theory of knowledge". http://www.uit.no/ssweb/dok/Somby/Ande/95.htm. 
• Szomjas-Schiffert, György (1996) (in Hungarian and English). Lapp sámánok énekes hagyománya • Singing tradition of Lapp shamans. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-6940-X. 

External links

• The British Library Sound Archive has 150,000 recordings of over 10,000 species.
• International Bioacoustics Council links to many bioacoustics resources.
• Listen to Nature 400 examples of animal songs and calls
• Wildlife Sound Recording Society