George M. Lee Park Soundscape

I live in the City of Brampton, where there is a residential park called “George M. Lee Park,” which is where I chose to do my soundscape analysis. My analysis took place around 4:30p.m to 5:10p.m at a bench that was near the park. This location gave me the opportunity to hear incidences from nearby and afar and therefore provided me with a high-frequency soundscape. The following lists are broken up into three categories of natural, human, and technological sounds.

Natural

During my forty-minute of ear cleaning, some of the natural sounds that I took note of was

• The rapid, strong, loud, and long piercing buzzing from a bee that was by my ear. (Repetitive)
•  A loud but distant, sharp staccato dog bark. (Repetitive)
• The loud but light rhythmic sounds of crickets chirping, and the intense rustling of leaves made by the light whistling wind. (Continuous)

Human

• The sounds of people talking were soft, mellow, and warm. However at times the tone would change to high pitched because a parent would yell at their child here and there. (Repetitive)
• Laughter came in different tones due to different ages and gender at the park. Children’s laughter was more shrilling, high-pitched, sudden, and bright. There was a female adult with her children and her laugh was more preppy, low, warm, and soft. (Repetitive)
• Panting of a child was full, heavy, breathy, and airy. (Unique)

Technological

The technological noises I heard were repetitive and loud. Things such as the

• Thick humming of a car engine (Repetitive)
• The squeaky pitched sound of car breaks as it came to a stop. (Unique)
• The muffled heavy sound of a garage door being opened automatically. (Unique)
• The high-pitched, rigid, screechy, piercing of swings as they went back and forth (Repetitive)
• Fast, sudden, hard car door slamming (Repetitive)
• A distant, crescendo, noisy sound of the Brampton Transit bus engine(Repetitive)
• A noisy, high pitched humming, harsh sound of someone vacuuming their car (Unique)
• A choppy strident start of lawnmowers  (Repetitive)
• Distant, high pitched, ‘swooshing’, warm sounds of airplanes flying in the sky (Repetitive)
• A sudden, heavy based car horn (Unique)
• The soft, rapid, muffled, distant, clicking  of bicycles (Repetitive)
• Heavy, bouncy, hollow rhythmic sound of the basketball hitting against the driveway (Repetitive)

  Even though the sounds of the lawnmower and the squeaky swings are loud, ironically I associate these sounds with feelings of safety and comfort because I feel right at home.

The sounds made in this park made me realize how often I am involved with environments that hold many congested technological/industrial sounds, so much to the point that I do not take the time to hear the natural sounds of the environment. What these sounds say about the park is that it is in suburban location where natural and human sounds are vivid and clear due to the decrease of noise pollution. However, the technological sounds such as the sharp buzzing of the lawnmower or the harsh, heavy sound of the basketball bouncing on a driveway, make up what it means to be in a suburban location, as these sounds compliment the park’s environment. The cultural activities and wildlife that people see linger in one’s memory, however the sounds that they make add a dimension that sight alone cannot provide. As a result, I would say the keynote for park is the sound of the leaves from the trees and the crickets.