A surburban night; where families choose to stay warm in their houses, yet particular night owls remain awake creating sounds that familiarize us of a suburban neighbourhood. My soundscape is located in Brampton near a park called Major Oaks, located in the center of a neighbourhood starting at 9:00PM on September 23rd.  The atmospheric conditions are what I call “sweater weather”, slightly windy and cold enough to confine some people indoors. I chose this particular location and time because nature, humans and technology were easily distinguishable and created a sense of memorabilia to me of what I call home. Listening closely and blankly staring out into the distance, majority of these sounds were repetitive such as, naturalness of wind grazing the tree leaves,  mellowness of cars slowly driving by, and the continuity of cars passing one another on a 400 series highway resonating in the background. Throughout this analysis, I will describe in detail about my ear cleaning experience and how these sounds created meaning in regards to its setting.  

Nature Sounds:

As I sat on the curb, the first sounds I could hear was the wind gently blowing and grazing the tree leaves. Every house in the neighbourhood has a tree planted on their property, which created this resonating rhythm as the wind passed by and returned again. It was repetitive, but low pitch and gentle to the ear. Suddenly interrupting the serenity of this moment,  I heard a high pitch dog park that echoed throughout the neighbourhood and disappeared. Not to mention, from 100 meter distance, I heard loud chirping of pet budgies from a house with their windows open. The repetitive and crisp, yet far enough to blend in with other natural sounds. 

Human Sounds: 

A person walks by me with a chesty cough, their lungs filling up with cold air creating a harsh timbre. It was unique, quick in duration and high in volume. Later,  I heard a woman yelling in a foreign language, dropping a piece of metal that echoed in her garage and created a piercing high pitch clash with the cement. From 100 meters away, she walks back inside her house dragging her leather boots against the cement creating this grainy and an abrasive timbre (unique). In the background, I hear a repetitive voice of a woman talking on the phone, it was unclear, muffled and low-pitched.

Technological Sounds

I recognized that the noise pollution was overbearing in comparison to human and nature. For instance, a few cars or motorcycles with an unhealthy motor would quickly drive by with a loud and raspy timbre, signal sounds from car alarm beeping, and car doors being slammed was repetitive. Overall, the most continuous sound was the cars quickly passing each other on a 400 series highway resonating in the background. The aerodynamics created a muffled sound that amplified throughout the neighbourhood. However, it is low pitched enough that I almost forgot its presence. Besides the cars, I could hear the bass of a vibrating stereo system booming in a house playing R & B music playing. From a far distance, the music is loud and continuous, but it blends in within the other sounds occurring and does not dominant the soundscape.  Also, I heard someone using an electric saw which was high pitched, deafening and unique for that time of day. 

        To sum up the foregoing, I consider the highway the keynote of an evening in suburbia because it is not always conscious and its constantly resonating in the background. Not to mention, it is also a soundmark because distant sounds of traffic flowing reminds us that the city is close, yet far enough to distinguish the suburbs. The suburbs is not necessarily a quiet place, yet not a loud place either. The sounds blend in with one another and if you take the time to listen, every sound is easily distinguishable, unlike an urban location where traffic overwhelms the soundscape. Overall, all these sounds combined created a collective memory of suburban life. The repetitiveness and continuity remind us of the sameness of a typical suburban location. Whether its the trees blowing, neighbours chatting, or random car alarm going off. These repetitive sounds remind me of what I call home.