Audio: crickets chirping

Voiced Narrative: A little over 5 years ago, I was living in a trailer park near the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Crickets were responsible for the most intrusive sound in my general area.

Audio: crickets fade out; birds tweeting, quiet soundscape of a wooded area

Voiced Narrative: That summer, I packed up my trailer and moved into a tiny apartment in the city of Pittsburgh to begin my graduate studies.

Audio: birds and natural sounds fade out; abrupt sounds of ambulance sirens, Pittsburgh traffic noise, heavy roadside construction swell and then decrease in volume

Voiced Narrative: As you’ve probably gathered, there was a bit of an adjustment period…

Audio: kids screaming, playground noises

Voiced Narrative: My apartment was located across the street from a school…

[1 minute mark] Audio: ambulance sirens, traffic, car alarm

Voiced Narrative: and a few blocks down from a hospital…

Audio: sounds of a Pittsburgh bus announcement and bus pulling away

Voiced Narrative: There was also a bus stop right outside my window.

Audio: layered Pittsburgh sound recordings continue at a low volume

Voiced Narrative: Being a music nerd of sorts, I have always been sensitive to how music can powerfully alter your mood or create an ambiance. But it wasn’t until I made the move from Cullowhee, North Carolina to Pittsburgh that I realized how much of an impact environmental sounds have in shaping the overall experience of a place. 

Voiced Narrative: I was especially surprised by the physical effects of sound that I began to notice. For the first several months of living in Pittsburgh, I was exhausted. My body felt like it was being assaulted by sound.

Audio: Pittsburgh sounds fade out; abrupt garbage truck noise

Voiced Narrative: The powerful sonic presence of garbage trucks seemed to shake and rattle through my rib cage.

Audio: ambulance sirens

[2 minute mark] Voiced Narrative: Shrill ambulance cries made my heart race and thump. These repetitive but fleeting encounters with sound in the city left my muscles tense, my nerves fried. I was always on edge.

Audio: garbage truck and ambulance sounds gradually fade out; mix of sounds from a coffee shop and sounds of people walking down the street plays for a few seconds and fades out

Voiced Narrative: I became so hyperaware of how the sounds around me were a source of mental and physical discomfort, even my furniture and appliances started driving me crazy.

Audio: sounds of loud, creaking Murphy bed springs

Voiced Narrative: The metal rungs of my Murphy bed made a noise that made me feel like I was sleeping in a torture chamber.

Audio: Murphy bed sounds fade out; transition to refrigerator sounds

Voiced Narrative: When the old refrigerator got overheated, it sounded like a revving engine—as if it were about to take off into the streets on its own. I tried to avoid my apartment during the day, but night after night, a barrage of sounds kept me from sleep. 

Audio: refrigerator sounds fade out; transition to sounds of street traffic swooshing by

Voiced Narrative: As time passed—a lot of time—I seemed to get used to the noise. After so many years of walking the streets in Pittsburgh, the constant rush of traffic that once seemed abrasive became a source of comfort. It was like my new sonic wallpaper; these sounds now felt like home. My body learned to adapt to the new soundscape…or at least a little.

[3 minute mark] Audio: traffic sounds gradually fade

Voiced Narrative: But I also got a lot better at ignoring my bodily responses to environmental sounds. Shortly after I moved to Pittsburgh, I bought an iPod, and it quickly became a part of my everyday wardrobe.

Audio: music track begins (mix of hip hop and rock)

Voiced Narrative: I created elaborate playlists for bus rides, walks, showers, studying. I started training for a ½ marathon and constructed 3 hours of music based on the beats-per-minute I needed to keep pace. You name it, I had a soundtrack for it.

Audio: music track fades into total silence

Voiced Narrative: When I was plugged in, it was like I unplugged everything else. I tried to make up for my lack of control over the sonic environment by designing a customized soundscape that I felt comfortable inhabiting. My iPod taught me to practice a withdrawn, interior kind of listening that enabled me to cope with the environment I found so agitating.

Audio: crickets chirping

[4 minute mark] Voiced Narrative: Last summer, my friends invited me to come visit them in North Carolina. Their house is located near the trailer park where I used to live. At that point I was pretty deep into dissertating, and was excited by the promise of peace and quiet—of getting away from the city and being in a place where I didn’t have to use my iPod 24/7. For weeks I dreamt about the calm nights filled with crickets. I couldn’t wait to get there…

Audio: cricket sounds fade out

Voiced Narrative: However, things didn’t turn out exactly as I’d planned.

Audio: extremely loud cicada noises

[5 minute mark] Voiced Narrative: This is what I listened to all night long as I stared at the ceiling. The sounds of nature seemed deafening to me. And on top of the sheer volume, the sounds made me feel uneasy. Not only were there loud insects right outside my window, there were all kinds of crackling and rustling noises coming from the dark woods that surrounded me.

Audio: intermittent sounds of rustling in bushes

Voiced Narrative: I think the thing that bothered me most about the soundscape, though, was its lack of human sounds. I couldn’t hear the footsteps of my neighbors as they filed in after a trip to the grocery store, or the ambulance sirens that rushed people to the hospital down the street.

Audio: rustling and cicadas fade out

Voiced Narrative: Those sounds let me know that people were there if I needed them. In contrast, the overpowering sounds of nature made me feel cut off. It was an unsettling experience.

Audio: sounds of footsteps walking on a dirt path

Voiced Narrative: As I hiked around the mountains over the next few days, my body began to feel much like it did when I first moved to Pittsburgh.

Audio: footsteps fade out

Voiced Narrative: My muscles got tense again, my heart rate shot up. This time, however, the sonic encounters that I felt physically assaulted by were coming from unexpected sources. 

[6 minute mark] Audio: sounds of loud flock of geese transition into powerful waterfall sounds, then all sounds fade out

Voiced Narrative: The environment that I once romanticized for being calm and quiet had become strangely amplified. The sounds were jarring, and my body seemed to be on high alert again. By the end of visit, I was actually craving the sounds of Pittsburgh—like the way you might crave a home-cooked meal after weeks on the road. I decided to leave a few days early.

Audio: calm traffic noise

Voiced Narrative: As I was driving through the city on the way home, I turned the radio off and rolled the windows down. It felt like the first time I really listened to the city. It was dark and the skyline sparkled.

Audio: traffic noise continues; music with heavy bass blasting out of a passing car swells and fades

Voiced Narrative: A car full of college kids passed me and I felt the bass they were blasting—its energetic pulse—in my throat and chest. It made me feel more alive and physically connected, like I was a part of something bigger.

Audio: traffic noise fades; sounds of the outdoor seating section of a restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Strip District fades in and out 

[7 minute mark] Voiced Narrative: I drove past restaurants and bars where people were seated outside, chattering in distinctly Pittsburgh accents.

Audio: steadily moving traffic sounds that continue for the rest of the composition

Voiced Narrative: The swift rush of traffic was such a beautiful sound.

Voiced Narrative: Though my trip to North Carolina wasn’t the sonically pleasant experience I was anticipating, it gave my senses a necessary jolt. The hypersensitivity to sound that I experienced when first moving to Pittsburgh, which eventually dulled as a result of adjusting to and ignoring the sounds around me, was reinvigorated when I immersed myself in the now unfamiliar mountain soundscape. And when I got back to the city, I really noticed sound again. I really listened to Pittsburgh.

Voiced Narrative: The sonic experiences I had in these two distinct soundscapes heightened my awareness of my own relationship to sound, of the ways I listened to the world.

[8 minute mark] Voiced Narrative: They got me thinking about the relationship between bodies, sounds, and environments—how both the sounds people are forced to interact with and the sounds people choose to engage with have a profound effect on shaping their listening habits and practices.

Audio: rock music track fades in and out

Voiced Narrative: Everyday, I see masses of people walking around, earbuds stuffed in their ears, numb to the sounds of their environments. And I wonder if they will ever realize how much they are missing—if they too will experience the sensory jolt that will reinvigorate their embodied relationships to the sonic world. 

Audio: sound collage that includes traffic, church bells, ambulance sirens, geese, kids playing, ambient sound from an outdoor market place; sounds slowly trail off into silence.

Note: All of the sounds that are not listed below are field recordings that were captured by the author in North Carolina and Pittsburgh during the summer and fall of 2012.

706boiyadigg. “1996 Monte Carlo with Super Bass Pro Box.” YouTube. Audio. 8 August 2010. 27 March 2013.

ancorapazzo. “Fridge Hum.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 22 March 2013. 27 March 2013.

bmoreno. “0249 Ambulance.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 8 May 2012. 26 March 2013.

cmusounddesign. “bm_busride.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 30 April 2009. 26 March 2013.

---. “BC walk signal plane.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 7 May 2011. 27 March 2013.

---. “03 Wholeys.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 29 November 2009. 26 March 2013.

cognito perceptu. “Cicadas.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 23 August 2012. 27 March 2013.

cs272. “cricket 1.” MP3. The Freesound Project. 7 August 2009. 26 March 2013.

gadirez. “Metal_Bed_Spring_Neumann_RSM191_GadiRaz.” WAV. The FreesoundProject. 29 July 2012. 27 March 2013.

gearfreak. “skolegaard.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 19 January 2008. 27 March 2013.

lolamadeus. “Dry flowers and twigs rustling.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 13 July 2012. 27 March 2013.

moshverhavick. “Creaking Hide a Bed Couch.” WAV. The Freesound Project. 12 November 2011. 27 March 2013.

“13 Year Cicada 2.” SBT4NOW, 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“1006 BJK Photo Drive_31.” nooccar (Devon Christopher Adams), 2010. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial License 2.0 Generic.

“20080807 06 Pittsburgh Arrival.” milesgehm, 2008. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“A spooky little boy like me.” Gak (Gary A. K.), 2006. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“back of the corral for you.” Chris Winters, 2013. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“BG Burcham visits Pittsburgh District.” US Army Corps of Engineers, 2013. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Big Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” MiguelVieira, 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Blue Ridge Mountains.” paul.digangi, 2010. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Bridges.” williamhartz (William Hartz), 2005. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Carnegie Mellon ‘Research & Retail Development’ Construction.” BoringPittsburgh, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Close-up #1.” dmolsen (Dave Olsen), 2006. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Cowee Mountain Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway.” Marry Anne Baker, 2012. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Crowd from Above.” ndanger (Dave Gingrich), 2004. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Crowded Train.” Chris Winters, 2013. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Fire Truck!” Tess Aquarium, 2007. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Fort Pitt Tunnel.” KitAy, 2007. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“G20: Police line-up on Walnut in Shadyside.” BoringPittsburgh, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Goose Head.” johnmuk (John Morris), 2010. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Here we go Steelers!!” ANG SHERPA, 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Jogging with our iPhones.” Ed Yourdon, 2008. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Light Trails.” Andy.Schultz (Andy Schultz), 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Man in the Mountain.” J-Rod85, 2008. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Our Night Out: Murray Avenue Grill.” dark.molly (Molly Sauter), 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh 2013/6.” theUniversityOf, 2013. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh @ Night.” thekellyscope (Sean Kelly), 2010. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh at Night.” Brian Walter, 2013. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh Bridges over Monogahela River.” 6SN7, 2010. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” Dougtone, (Doug Kerr) 2012. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Pittsburgh’s Strip District.” Stevie Rocco, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Residence Halls.” KitAy, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Sauvie Island Cackling Geese.” Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, 2012. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Smoky Mountains 079.” BrianBoardman, 2007. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“So Long Joe.” Fraser Mummery, 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“Summer Nights.” the justified sinner, 2012. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Summertime Lunch at Bryant Park­, Aug 2009-43.” Ed Yourdon, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–Non-Commercial-ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“Smokies Sunrise.” anneh632 (Anne Hornyak), 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike License 2.0 Generic.

“View from 5^th Ave.” daveynin, 2009. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“View from Andrews Bald on Forney Ridge Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” MiguelVieira, 2011. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

“View from Cullowhee Mtn” twbuckner, 2012. Available under Creative Commons Attribution­–2.0 Generic.

Steph Ceraso is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She received her doctorate in 2013 from the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in rhetoric and composition, pedagogy, sound studies, and digital media. In addition to coediting a special “Sonic Rhetorics” issue of Harlot, her work has been featured in College English, Currents in Electronic Literacy, HASTAC, Sounding Out! Blog, and Fembot Collective. Her current book project, Sounding Composition, Composing Sound, examines how expansive, consciously embodied listening and sonic composing practices can deepen our knowledge of multimodal engagement and production. You can find more about her research, media projects, and teaching at her website.