Soundscape: The Ivy Room

Soundscape in the Ivy Room 11:15-11:45

electrical buzz

chatter

laughing

spring loaded ice cream scoop

shoes squeaking

beat from unidentifiable song on radio

blender

knuckle cracking

chip bags crinkling

ice rattling in soda fountain

my housemate's voice

singing and electronic beat on radio

nails tapping

bottles clanking in trash can

slurping from straws

hands clapping in a high-fiv

plastic bottle cap snapping

banging on table

door slamming

metal trays banging

pencil tapping

I chose to observe the soundcape of the Ivy Room because I spend a lot of time there socializing and especially studying, and because I like to study there primarily because of the sounds there. Usually, I study alone because my preference for noise confuses many of my friends, who prefer quieter library settings. I like to study in a loud place with a lot of repetitive or constant sounds, which I find paradoxically to be a less distracting than relative silence. Paying attention to the level of noise in the Ivy Room, therefore, was a very different experience for me, as I am used to tuning it out. The very first thing I noticed was that the total resting level of noise was quite high. The constant electrical buzz from the lights and the refrigerators and chatter -- and the very frequent sound of the blender from the smoothy line -- were the biggest contributors to noise. The level of noise was so high that virtually no outside or natural noise was perceptible. Almost no sound was heard only once, so for the sake of brevity I only listed a given sound the first time I heard it. 

Grouping the sounds is an interesting exercise that I tried during my observations. One dichotomy was between human and non-human sounds. The vast majority of sounds were directly caused by humans present in the space, either with their voices or by making contact with inanimate objects. The only sounds that were not were the sounds of the radio and the electrical buzz. The human sounds can organized by the purpose of the actions with which they are associated. For instance, the sound of the ice cream scoop, blender, and soda fountain were associated with food production; chip bags crinkling, slurping from straws with food consumption; chatter, laughing, high-fiving with social interactions; and nails and pencils tapping with studying. 

In a bustling cafeteria, the sounds heard are associated with actions and with purpose. Even though the musical sounds that I heard were mostly unintelligible, this very fact suggests that their purpose was more for atmosphere than to be listened to. Most of the other sounds were just incidental to human activity. Even these sounds, however, contributed to an atmosphere that is interpreted by many groups of friends as conducive to socializing by a few people like me as conducive to studying.