Location – Crow’s Nest Way, Whitchurch-Stouffville, On

Date: September 23, 2013

Time: 1:05 pm – 1:35 pm

Sounds Heard

Truck Engine Idling – Technology, Repetitive

Trucks Reversing – Technology, Repetitive

Car Horns Beeping – Technology, Repetitive

Air pressure being released – Technology, Repetitive

Aeroplane engines – Technology, Repetitive

Human conversation – Human, Unique

Tires on pavement – Technology, Repetitive

Tires on sand – Technology, Repetitive

Rock on metal – Nature/ Technology, Repetitive

Lawn mower engine – Technology, Unique

Metal on metal – Technology, Repetitive

Whistle sounds – Technology, Repetitive

Metal scraping metal – Technology, Repetitive

Pebbles falling and hitting each other – Nature, Repetitive

Surburb Becoming A City

As I sit in front of a house on Crow’s Nest Street in Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario at 1:05pm on Wednesday, September 23 I hear the low rumbling reverberation of truck engines. I listened to these vibrations with their low, smooth timbres, pulse through the earth for thirty minutes, shaking every object around it. Those objects include the metal roof on top of a house which clanked together in a rough high pitched sound that produced a high pitched squeaking sound in response to the collision; the little pebbles on the road which made soft little popping sounds as they hitting the pavement rolling and; lastly the soft but poignant clanking of metal on tin produced by my pen and aluminium water bottle. All these sounds produced a kind of sound pollution when inserted into the ambiance of this neighbourhood construction site.

The more distinct sound pollutions included human voices, staccato in rhythm and loud in register; rocks hitting the backs of trucks which could be compared to the sound of a plastic bottle being twisted in half; a fly buzzing around my ear creating a Doppler effect, fading in and out as it came and went; the high frequency squeaking sounds from construction trucks scraping metal on metal and; aeroplanes flying above with their loud, thunderous engines booming through the sky. It is also important to note a soft reverberation of a lawn mower cutting grass that was present for two minutes and a loud metal on metal crashing sound of a car moving over a bump in the road right in front of me. This specific car had passed by twice repeating the same sound as it did earlier along with a sticky leather-like sound of tires peeling themselves off of the pavement. These random schizophonic sounds all took place within the construction ambiance and occurred for at least two minutes in duration.

The construction ambiance that I was analyzing was lo-fidelity as I could barely distinguish the sounds in between that were not schizophonic. Then as I listened more closely I could pinpoint high frequency screeching noises from the metal scraping on rocks; high pitched, repetitive siren-like sounds from trucks reversing which had a specific second interval rhythm pattern occurring frequently and; an electric razor-like sound of trucks moving around on the site. Those were the three repetitive sounds occurring along with a low frequency sound of air pressure being released in a loud to soft exhalation sequence. Notable mentions would be car horns beeping in quick high pitched staccato rhythms with a few low and longer rhythmic car horns upstaging them. Occasionally, I was able to detect a high frequency whistle from the trucks as well as low frequency sounds of trucks moving over dirt roads, the sand and pebbles lightly touching one another creating popping sounds as they collided into eachother. Lastly, one of the more distinct sounds of the construction site was rock on metal contact. Loud and soft, heavy and light, distant and close range the rocks were an instrumental part of creating the sound for the ambiance.

The keynote sound of this particular neighbourhood construction site I would argue was the low repetitive rumbling reverberation produced from the trucks that were standing still. The sound mark would be the metal roof tops clanking against one another as only one house in particular had a metal roof top with the metal sheets reverberating in erratic patterns. What these sounds of construction signify is that the once purely suburban town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is slowly becoming urbanized. Thus, it could be predicted that the soundscape of Whitchurch-Stouffville will be changed dramatically post-construction.