Soundscapes of Life

This book showcases the importance of the soundscape for understanding the environmental crises that we face. It is also about the lost art of listening. This is crucial if we are to start building deeper resonances between human and more-than-human worlds.

The book introduces a new approach to listening called Integral Listening (IL), one that helps people directly engage with interior and exterior soundscapes, which is the key to solving environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It provides a number of tools for engaging with the soundscape in ways that build empathy between the listener and the listened. It argues that empathy is central to our ability to create closer bonds with the more-than-human world; bonds that our ancestors, and the Indigenous peoples of the world, understood as being key to survival. As Edwards argues, science and technology cannot be relied upon to address issues that begin their life in our interior worlds. At its core, this book is a rallying cry for the creation of arts-based responses to environmental issues, responses that create hope, not despair.

Providing essential reading, this book will be of interest to researchers, educators, and students in environmental studies, sound studies, and arts-based research. It will also appeal to musicians exploring new ways of crafting music from the soundscapes, well-being professionals benefitting from the concept of the interior soundscape and its ability to impact how people feel and community members who are on the lookout for ways to engage people with issues without creating feelings of powerlessness.

Author Biography

Mike Edwards, PhD, is Chief Listening Officer at Sound Matters. An environmental educator, retreat coordinator, and didgeridoo player, his work builds deeper bonds between human and more-than-human worlds.