Sound Event Map

Sound Event Map is an invention pioneered by Michael Southworth, Sound Event Maps is a technique used for measuring the sonic characteristics of a specific area or neighbourhood.

In 1960, Southworth, still an MIT student at the time conducted a study in Boston.
This study involved taking blindfolded subjects downtown on a wheelchair tour of the city.
The goal of this study was to create an audible image of the city, to find out how much it
would differ from that of a visual one. Once completed, the results were rather surprising.
Straying from the somewhat expected conclusion, areas that looked to be the more intrusive
and important registered lower on the audio environment than those that looked insignificant
and minor.

Also called listening walks, in some studies he would have the participants adhere to a
different disability, for instance: one member would be blindfolded, one wearing earplugs,
while the third one has unhindered perception, emphasising the interaction between visual
and auditory stimuli.

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