Hear the Image. See the Sound.

Earth revolves around her axis in one day; the Moon orbits around Earth in one month; and Earth around the Sun in one year. How we engage in this rotational journey is unique to each of us. Forever within the common confines of 24 hour time, and forever seeking synchronicity; attempting to seek balance amongst the geophonies, biophonies, and anthrophonies of our worlds. If one cannot physically and audibly connect with the natural world, how are we supposed to grasp its implications beyond cerebral understanding?

Navigating the internal topography of Prospect Park this morning - legs moving in perfect unison to the music's synchronized tempo - the rhythmic procession of life surrounding me also appeared to be moving to its own respective beats per minute; a changing scenography whose cycles are experienced independently but with an underlying relation at all times exposed by the dance of light and shadow as we circle around one another. 

Spotify and others have attempted to promote and individualize musical alignment with bodily rhythm - running playlists, fit bits and apple watches, and other bio-monitoring/bespoke devices that consume and interpret our data. Immersive and site specific, however, I believe it's the serendipitous collision of our rhythms with life around us that provide our more memorable experiences, in anything but linear or interpretable fashion. Similar to more recent artistic interpretations of sound, our daily scenographic experiences might be tuned with an amplified harmony, where we might be further inspired to 'hear' the image and 'see' the sound.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a soundscape ecologists seek to edify us observing sound as worth a thousand pictures. Life for me has always had a soundtrack. From the earliest memories, music has been a consistent driver common to every major challenge, achievement, and dream - it's power to evoke tears, manic joy, or exhaustive perseverance; the most epic moments experienced where tempo and pitch are in perfect harmony with a natural rhythm that beats in that particular moment. 

Could soundscape ecology - a "new" science struggling for airtime within the predominance of our  insta(nt)gram-culture - help us to more holistically understand physical changes in our environment over time through the audible lens of sound? As a professional who has sought to grow his expertise with a highly motivated, inquisitive and investigative approach to design, my learning remains guided by a personal motivation toward the importance of soundscapes as a complement to, and reflection of our health or illness. The crippling electro-mechanical noise of squealing subway brakes; the din of heavy machinery used to maintain our urban supply and disposal systems; and the cacophony of consumption and economic exchange - all have a direct physical effect on our conscious and our health; a visceral and cumulative effect that, unless contrasted with the soundscapes of earthen and truly natural environs, will hinder our relations and impair our ability to forge future change. Look around on the subway next trip and count the proportion of headphone users to non-users and you will witness your fellow people craving audible balance. They're simply missing one thing -  a healthy ecosystem and visual reality of that life as it maintains rotation.