Beyond landscape’s visible realm: Recorded sound, nature, and wellbeing

Bates, Victoria, Hickman, Clare, Manchester, Helen, Prior, Jonathan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7081-8025 and Singer, Stephanie 2020. Beyond landscape’s visible realm: Recorded sound, nature, and wellbeing. Health and Place 61 , 102271. 10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102271

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Abstract

This article draws on an AHRC/EPSRC funded project called ‘A Sense of Place: Exploring nature and wellbeing through the non-visual senses’. The project used sound and smell technologies, as well as material textures and touch, to ask: what does ‘wellbeing’ mean for people in relation to the non-visual aspects of nature, and how might technology play a role in promoting it (if at all)? This article takes recorded sound as a case study. It argues that recorded soundscapes should be understood on their own terms rather than as ‘less than’ or a simulation of natural environments. They have specific value in creating space for imagination, particularly when delivered with care and as part of the co-creation of sensory experience. Overall, the article argues that the value of emerging immersive technologies is not to simulate nature better. An ‘immersive experience’ is richest when it allows for – and reveals – the nuances and complexities of individual responses to natural environments.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1353-8292
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 January 2020
Date of Acceptance:	12 December 2019
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 08:36
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/128358

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