LULLA-BIO-ACOUSTICS : ESTUARY SOUNDSCAPES 1

The first LULLA-BIO-ACOUSTICS session airs here as the first official programme from K-A-B ART + SOUND : LISTENING POD, to mark World Listening Day 2024. Hear the soundscape ecology of the area between an ancient tiny fishing town known as Old Leigh, and Chalkwell Beach, recorded on the morning of World Listening Day (18/07/24).  

Via a continuous binaural recording you’ll hear sounds of early morning life as we walk through the old cobbled high street, which follow us onto a narrow but busy walkway flanked by a railway track taking commuters to London, and a rocky drop down to the beautiful estuary itself.

As we progress closer to Chalkwell Beach, not far from the Crowstone where the Thames Estuary meets the North Sea, the sound of vehicles, trains, workers, joggers and dog walkers becomes less cacophonous, and the acoustics become peaceful and calm as we take in the lapping of the incoming tide, the sounds of birds, a bee, swimmers, bathers, and speedboats in the distance. 

Towards the end of the soundscape, the aural journey shifts to underneath the water, where you will hear the result of a hydrophone bouncing and floating on the edge of the shore, clapping and scraping gently against pebbles and picking up the sound of the sand and salt as it washes back and forth within the tide.  The podcast starts and ends with the musical notes conducted by the biorhythms and frequencies of the sea, which I plugged into with electrodes and recorded there and then. Aside from wanting to encourage us all to still our busy minds, expand our attention spans and take out a bit of time to simply just tune in and mindfully listen, it is important to document soundscape ecology and the blend of biophony, geophony, and anthropophony, for understanding and managing ecosystem health, biodiversity, and the impacts of human activity on natural environments.

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Thank you for listening.  Kelly x