Location: Yorkdale Mall

Time: 6:00pm – 6:45pm

            For this assignment I chose to study Yorkdale’s soundscape. While there I positioned myself in one of the most popular sections of the mall in order to experience as many sounds as I possibly could. The sounds I heard while there were many types of footsteps such as normal footsteps, the sound of people dragging there feet, people running, and the footsteps of women wearing heels and sneakers squeaking against the tiled floor. Each footstep had its own unique sound varying in timber, duration, tone, and pitch. Some of the

other sounds heard while observing the Yorkdale soundscape were cell phones ringing, people talking and yelling, strollers being wheeled, the electric motor of a scooter, the ruffling of shopping bags as people were walking with them, children crying, the music coming from inside the stores, keys jingling, cell phones being dropped, paper bags being crumpled, bottles dropping and rolling, jewelry clinging, people coughing and sneezing, jewelry clinging and the sound of the newspaper crinkling as someone turns the page. Many of these sounds are unique in their pitch, tone, timber and frequency. However they each encompass the Yorkdale soundscape.

             The many different types of footsteps heard differ in pitch, tone, and frequency. The frequency of the standard footsteps of people walking around the mall is quite frequent and constant. In the section I was in people are constantly walking back and forth between stores. The pitch is very general. When compared to the footsteps of people running around the duration is often a lot shorter and not as frequent. Also the pitch is also high as the shoes squeak against the tiles. The pitch of the footsteps I found to be a lot lower then both the standard footsteps and the footsteps of those running, and the timber of the sound was very crisp witch was the clicking sound of the heels. While studying the different sounds I have come to the realization that there are many different types of footsteps, which can produce vastly different pitches and tones. Other sounds, such as cell phones ringing and people talking, often differed in pitch, tone, and timber based on the type of ring tone and the voice of the person. Some people had a very deep and low pitch voice, which resulted in a louder, deeper sound. Often times I found that when the pitch and tone were lower in a sound it resulted in the timber and sound quality to be greater. The duration of many of these sounds was often very limited because people are constantly moving. So they go from being faint to being able to hear them clearly to them slowly starting to fade again. Again this is all part of the soundscape of the mall

            Through my soundscape analysis I realized that many of the sounds heard at Yorkdale are human and technological made sounds. Most of the sounds, if not all, come from people walking around the mall and interacting with their environment and the music playing within the stores. I also found that there were no unique sounds in this location. All the sounds I heard were either continuous, such as the music playing, or repetitive, such as cell phones ringing and people talking. People were continuously walking and talking and there was never a moment of complete silence. In fact I would say that the keynote of the entire mall would be people talking. Things are constantly taking place throughout the mall as people are talking in the background. People are shopping, on their phones, eating, reading the newspaper all while the sound of people conversing is set in the background.

All these sounds make up the soundscape of a shopping mall where music is constantly playing and people are always on the move. It encompasses what it is all about. Each of these sounds together gives Yorkdale a distinct sound that you would not find many other places. Since it is the second largest mall in the GTA it attracts people from all over. Individually the sounds heard are quite generic but combined together they produce a busy atmosphere with many different things going on under one roof. These sounds are unique to Yorkdale because only in a place such as Yorkdale would you be able to hear all these different sounds.