Introduction
Tweeeee. Tweeee. Its two long whistle blasts that make me instantly aware of the sound of the water. As a lifeguard of a murky lake, the sound of the water provides a vital clue about the wellbeing of the swimmers. Each swish, each splash, must be distinguished as the splash of a fish or the desperate attempt of a child to stay afloat. In the language of a lifeguard, two whistle blows means danger and requires an instantaneous plunge into blue lake. Submerged in the water, I must search for the child, using the water’s acoustics to guide me in my attempt. Never does the water seem more alive than in these moments, and while I hate the reason for my attentiveness, I can’t help but marvel at the soundscape that surrounds me.
In these cold, hectic instants I remember the power of water: a substance deadly in both absence and abundance. How easy it is to quantify the many uses of such a vital, influential subject. It tastes of nothing but provides vital nutrients. In its purest form, it has no color, yet it astounds with the magnificence of its reflected blues and eutrophic greens. We can feel its cooling nature and benefit from the clean energy it can provide. But what of its sound? Perhaps surprisingly, water’s acoustic uses extend far beyond underwater “vision” or artistic appeal. The sound of water can be both recorded and manufactured for health, structural, and commercial uses and these uses continue to grow as technology expands. As creatures that are composed mainly of water, understanding the substance allows us to better understand a part of ourselves. Scientists have spent years studying the physical and chemical properties of the substance, but acoustical properties have been largely ignored. By understanding the ways humans use water sounds, we will gain awareness on how a single substance can have such a power grip on our lives, but also gain knowledge of how water sounds can be used in our own lives.
The Uses of Recorded Water Sounds
Making a recording generally requires only two entities: A recorder, and a person to press “record”. Recording water however, proves a bit more challenging. Most iPhones or tapes don’t respond particularly well to the rushing rapids of a waterfall or spray of a fountain. Nevertheless, water recordings, when properly executed, capture a power that can acoustically be used for a variety of purposes. In the sections below, a few of these uses are discussed and explored.
Relaxation and Meditation
I’ve only been to a Yoga class once, and I only remember half of it. Between the instructor’s voice and background track of the ocean, I fell asleep in some convoluted mix of downward dog and child’s pose. Beyond my Yoga incompetence, water sounds do evoke tranquility. In a study by Robert Pheasant and Kirill Horoshenkov and Greg Watts, it was found that the presence of natural features (such as water) influenced the perception of the study participants on the tranquility of a location (Watts and Pheasant). Likewise, the acoustic comfort of a location was found to be influenced by the presence of water sounds. Beyond scientific studies, a google search will reveal the pervasive power of water sounds for relaxation and meditation. A simple search on Amazon for “water meditation” returns 16,269 results including cds, dvds and digital files of water recordings (Amazon.com). Likewise, searching youtube for “water sounds” reveals 1 hour, 3 hour, and, for that particularly stressful day, 11 hour recordings of “gentle rivers and streams” (Youtube.com). The digital and commercial presence and prevalence of these recordings shows to some extent the effectiveness of water as a mechanism for relaxation, and supports the results the aforementioned scientific studies have shown.
Tinnitus remedy
Tinnitus, in a most colloquial sense, is nature’s payback for all the loud rock concerts, and blasted music of yesteryear. A ringing of the ears or “phantom noise” sensation caused by hearing loss, inner ear damage or exposure to loud noises, the condition can be found in one in five people (Mayo Clinic Staff). However, unlike the chances of a rockband staying together for more than a few years, the chance of remedy or relief from tinnitus is high. One of the more common remedies comes in the form of masking, a treatment in which a pleasant noise is played to cause distraction from the ringing of the ears (Tyler 13). Interestingly, a study by James Henry, Betsy Rheinsburg and Tara Zaugg found that among a variety of sounds that can be used for achieving tinnitus relief, water sounds were “significantly more effective than the other sounds” (585). While other methods for remedy exist, water sounds are an important way to create relief from the common tinnitus condition.
Advertising
Before the movies, the same advertisement always plays. It’s both an ad for Coca-Cola and a showcase of the “improved speakers” of the theater, where a glass is set down as ice cubes clink into it, as a tall pitcher of Coke pours slowly on top. The slow, crisp bubbling of the liquid always makes me thirsty despite my disdain for Coke. In a similar manner to this commercial, advertising in general appeals to the senses, and often using the sound of water. As early as 1890, water was considered a way to advertise, as the patent by John House shows. In the patent, House writes of a “means for presenting the counterfeit presentment of waterfalls for “advertising purposes.” (“Scenic Advertising Medium”). While the success of this invention remains unclear, the prevalence of liquid sounds in commercials suggests that sounds in advertising have an influential effect. While not directly related to water, the 2014 commercial “The Coca Cola SLURP” pivots upon the idea of the sound of drinking (“Coca-Cola SLURP”). The hope is that by hearing the drink, the audience will want to buy the drink for themselves. Advertising in this way blurs the line between recorded sounds and manufactured sounds, as sometimes the noise might be a recording of nature, such as the old 1890 patent device, while others are more manufactured such as the Coca-Cola slurp.
The Uses of Water Sounds of Manufactured Structures
Moving from Coca-Cola slurp sounds to the fountains that surround the Coca-Cola headquarters in Downtown Atlanta, water sounds prevail in the structures that humans have created. In almost any large city visited, fountains or some sort of water feature can be found among the chaos of city traffic. Additionally, many human-made water structures rival natural ones in terms of appeal, partly because of the sound of these structures. In the following sections, two main uses of water sounds in manufactured structures, managing city noise and tourism, are considered.
Managing city noise
Living in the suburbs for all my life, I simply didn’t sleep the first time I visited Chicago. From our hotel room in the heart of Chicago, I could hear the constant honking and rushing of the cars down below. In most large cities, this noise is unpleasant, but thankfully, city planners have found a way to mitigate the cacophony: water acoustics. Water fountains have commonly been used to mitigate the sounds of water since a majority of people surveyed like the sound of water over the sound of construction or other human-made noise (Marcus and Francis). A study by Jin Yong Jeon, Pyoung Jik Lee and Jin You delves deeper into the mechanisms of water sounds for enhancing urban open spaces and discusses the “effects of water sounds on masking urban noises and… perception of the urban soundscape” (2102). Specifically, they found that there was a correlation between the presence of water features on the road and the positive perception of the area for road sounds of 55dBa. Additionally, the sharpness of the water sounds was found to be the most important factor in providing relief from the traffic. Another study delving into this matter comes from Laurent Galbrun and Tahir T. Ali who found similar conclusions to the Jeon Study. Galbrun and Ali however, expanded the variety of water features used, testing 12 different structures to cover up road traffic. Overall, they found that the water sounds should be “not less than 3db below the urban noise level” and that the most preferred structures were the natural stream, a fountain of 37 jets, a large jet, and a four step cascade (233). Overall, these studies show an important use of water sounds in everyday life.
Tourism
Similar to city planning, tourist industries benefit from the creation of water sounds. In a study by Ori Schwarz on the tourist preferences of Israeli visitors, it was found that sites with water provide a “space of freedom” for the tourist. In contrast to loud, human-made sources of tourist attractions, which were “experienced as disturbing noises”, spaces with waters sounds, both natural and artificial “were described as pleasant” (394). Sometimes, water features, beyond adding comfort to a tourist area, provide the main source of attraction for an area. For example, the Peace Gardens in Sheffield are characterized by the sounds the “89 individual jets of the Goodwin Fountain” (Yang and Kang 213). Within the United States, the Bellagio fountains enchant not only in their looks, but in their sonic value. Every half hour “between 3 pm and 8pm”, the fountains become almost alive, with the sounds of the water mixing with music playing from speakers (Stein). Whether the central point of attraction and only an aspect of attraction, the water sounds of manmade structures often serve as points to draw in tourists.
Case Studies
In a sense, the case studies of this project have a selfish motivation: I wanted to re-experience the alertness to water sounds I felt as a lifeguard without the fear and anxiety of searching for a drowning child. Armed with a Zoom Recorder and Hydrophone and the help of other contributors, I set out to capture the fountains and mills that surrounded me. How closely do these human-made water structure sounds match the sounds of nature’s ponds, streams, lakes and oceans? To what extent is this similarity influenced by the background noise of the environment? For what purpose was this water feature constructed? In the tabs that follow, my attempt to answer these questions and the results of my recording adventures are presented. Each tab features a collection of sounds with pictures, information, and commentary about the recordings. Additionally, many of the sounds include edited versions, which seek to combine the recordings in new ways to see their similarities. In these edited versions it should be noted that in amplifying some of the tracks, noise may play a disproportional role in the recording in order to allow the water sounds to be heard at all. In collaboration with the case studies of other project members, comparative analysis and overall conclusions about the case studies can be found under the menu option “Collective Analysis and Conclusions.”
Works Cited
2015. Amazon. Last Accessed 2015. Amazon.com
2014. Coca-Cola SLURP! YouTube video, 2:40. Posted by “Coca-Cola,” March 10, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy9RpsUYyq8
2015. Youtube. Last Accessed 2015. Youtube.com
Dunn, David. 1997. “Nature, Sound Art and the Sacred.” Terra Nova: Nature and Culture 2 (3): 1-11. Accessed March 26, 2015.
Greg R Watts, Rob J. Pheasant. 2011. “Predicting Perceived Tranquillity in Urban Parks and Open Spaces.” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 38 (4): 585–94.
James A Henry, Betsy Rheinsburg. 2004. “Comparison of Custom Sounds for Achieving Tinnitus Relief.” Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 15 (8): 585–98.
Jin Yong Jeon, Pyoung Jik Lee. 2012. “Acoustical Characteristics of Water Sounds for Soundscape Enhancement in Urban Open Spaces.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 131 (3): 2101–9.
Laurent Galbrun, Tahrir T. Ali. 2013. “Acoustical and Perceptual Assessment of Water Sounds and Their Use over Road Traffic Noise.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 133 (1): 227–37.
Marcus, C. C., Francis, C. 1998. People Places: Design Guidelines for
Urban Open Space. Wiley: New York.
Mayo Clinic Staff. 2013. Mayo Clinic. Last Accessed 2015. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/basics/causes/con-20021487
“Scenic Advertising Medium.” 2015. Accessed April 5. http://www.google.com/patents/US435064.
Schwarz, Ori. 2013. “What Should Nature Sound Like?: Techniques of Engagement with Nature Sites and Sonic Preferences of Israeli Visitors.” Annals of Tourism Research 42: 382–401.
Stein, Joel. 2008. TIME. Last Accessed 2015. http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/printout/0,31522,1838100_1838099_1838074-full,00.html
Tyler, Richard. 2007. “Evolving Counseling and Sound Therapies for Tinnitus.” Feedback. 18 (2): 12–17.
Yang, W., and J. Kang. 2005. “Acoustic Comfort Evaluation in Urban Open Public Spaces.” Applied Acoustics, Urban Acoustics Urban Acoustics, 66 (2): 211–29.