Overview:
On a trip to Puerto Rico, Kimberly decided to take advantage of this unique opportunity to also do some recording of the region's diverse soundscapes. During the hiking trip through the El Yunque Nat'l Forest, there were a diverse range of waterfalls and other aquatic soundscapes, some of which are presented here. Since this section deals with freshwater, recordings done of the ocean surrounding the territory were not included here.
Since there is a creek here, it will be useful to compare this creek to the one in North Carolina, and see how the different surrounding environment of the two affect the aquatic soundscape (tropical vs. subtropical). Additionally, the waterfall can be compared to fountains, as fountains are very similar manmade versions at the fundamental level: water has to fall down somewhere, and the fall creates sound as the water hits a surface. This can help answer one of the core questions of this study: How well can manmade imitations of natural aquatic sounds achieve the effect that the natural bodies of water have, and what are the differences?
Waterfall Rocks
Time: 16:57
Date: 9 Mar 2015
Location: Rio Grande- Jimenez (El Yunque)
Three recordings were performed at this waterfall of the Rio Grande-Jimenez. The first one was at the rocks to get a sense of the sound at the origin of the falls.
Since this was taken above the waterfall, the waterfall can be heard clearly in the background. It should be noted how it sounds very continuous, like white noise.
While the soundscape above the water picked up the waterfall, this aquatic soundscape sounds peaceful and the quiet bubbling of water does not provide any idea of surrounding.
The combination of the two provides a nice juxtaposition. The two really do not sound like each other; however they were taken in the same location. This shows how different the nature of aquatic soundscapes are.
Calm base of Waterfall
Time: 17:17
Date: 9 Mar 2015
Location: Rio Grande- Jimenez (El Yunque)
Inside the Waterfall
Time: 17:16
Date: 9 Mar 2015
Location: Rio Grande-Jimenez (El Yunque)
This recording was taken in the falls, at the base, so expect some powerful sound from all this water plummeting down from above.
The above the surface soundscape is quite loud; as we are listening to a waterfall, this can be expected. We can hear water falling down and landing below.
The aquatic soundscape is one of the loudest we've heard so far. The discontinuous nature of the sound suggests that the hydrophones are being displaced by the strong force of the falling water.
These two combined create a rather full-sounding soundscape full of watery white noise. These "nature sounds", however, probably would not be considered as soothing as softer, more gentle ones.
At the Creek
Time: 15:25
Date: 10 Mar 2015
Location: Rio Mameyes (Near a golf course)
This last waterfall recording was taken at a calm spot at the bottom of the falls. It will be useful to observe how much of the falls sound makes its way into this recording, both above and underneath the water.
This is much calmer, and the flow of water sounds quite peaceful, don't you think?
Again, this seems very similar to the other aquatic soundscapes. It seems that in aquatic soundscapes, sound propogates less effectively over distance, and that sounds are muffled and there is very little diversity in types of sound, leading to a vast similarity between the aquatic sound of a creek and that of a waterfall, the only major difference being the volume level.
The two combined. These recordings, apart from the human voices, are very focused on the aquatic sounds themselves.
A recording was taken on a relatively shallow portion of a creek with clear, rippling water.
The sound of water is less apparent in this one, as in it sounds less like water in this one than in any other of the recordings.
The creek is very still except for what seems to be an occasional bump.
The main sound of this is the above water soundscape. This is mainly because of noise interference from the surrounding area, as the creek itself is not very loud, yet still a lot of sound comes from the above the water soundscape.
Overall thoughts:
The sounds of these waterfalls are quite similar to that of the manmade fountains, and both seem to create a similar effect. While the fountains are made, usually, with the purpose of reducing noise in mind, these natural ones exhibit the same effect. In these recordings, it is very difficult to hear outside sounds as the water is so loud. Water with such rapid flow rate obviously is louder than water at a creek or lake, and therefore there is more external soundscape heard at those sites.
Also, since it is so difficult to penetrate aquatic soundscapes, as they are sonically insulated from the outside environment, and to propogate sound in general underwater, only loud underwater signals should significantly affect the soundscape in negative ways, making regulation of aquatic soundscape not very necessary.