Soundscapes of Life
Deep Listening to the World Around Us
Published on 8. December 2025
196 pages
978-1-040-80363-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book showcases the importance of the soundscape for understanding the environmental crises that we face. It is also about the lost art of listening. This is crucial if we are to start building deeper resonances between human and more-than-human worlds.
The book introduces a new approach to listening called Integral Listening (IL), one that helps people directly engage with interior and exterior soundscapes, which is the key to solving environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It provides a number of tools for engaging with the soundscape in ways that build empathy between the listener and the listened. It argues that empathy is central to our ability to create closer bonds with the more-than-human world; bonds that our ancestors, and the Indigenous peoples of the world, understood as being key to survival. As Edwards argues, science and technology cannot be relied upon to address issues that begin their life in our interior worlds. At its core, this book is a rallying cry for the creation of arts-based responses to environmental issues, responses that create hope, not despair.
Providing essential reading, this book will be of interest to researchers, educators, and students in environmental studies, sound studies, and arts-based research. It will also appeal to musicians exploring new ways of crafting music from the soundscapes, well-being professionals benefitting from the concept of the interior soundscape and its ability to impact how people feel and community members who are on the lookout for ways to engage people with issues without creating feelings of powerlessness.
The book introduces a new approach to listening called Integral Listening (IL), one that helps people directly engage with interior and exterior soundscapes, which is the key to solving environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It provides a number of tools for engaging with the soundscape in ways that build empathy between the listener and the listened. It argues that empathy is central to our ability to create closer bonds with the more-than-human world; bonds that our ancestors, and the Indigenous peoples of the world, understood as being key to survival. As Edwards argues, science and technology cannot be relied upon to address issues that begin their life in our interior worlds. At its core, this book is a rallying cry for the creation of arts-based responses to environmental issues, responses that create hope, not despair.
Providing essential reading, this book will be of interest to researchers, educators, and students in environmental studies, sound studies, and arts-based research. It will also appeal to musicians exploring new ways of crafting music from the soundscapes, well-being professionals benefitting from the concept of the interior soundscape and its ability to impact how people feel and community members who are on the lookout for ways to engage people with issues without creating feelings of powerlessness.
Reviews / Votes
"Soundscapes of Life is a soulful call to listen anew to the eloquent voice of nature which exists both around and within us. A highly recommended read especially for those who are looking for new ways of understanding and addressing environmental issues in these challenging times."Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Convention.
"Soundscapes of Life is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to listen more deeply to the living world . With clarity, passion, and profound ecological insight, Edwards weaves science, art, indigenous knowledge, and philosophy into a compelling exploration of how sound shapes our understanding of place and presence. This work not only illuminates the hidden frequencies of the more than human that surround us but also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and create kinship with them. Essential reading for field recordists, ecologists, artists, and anyone who yearns to tune back into the Earth's subtle voices."
Jamie House, Sound Artist, independent researcher, and author of: Transmissions - Speculative Field Studies at the Goonhilly Downs SSSI Earth Station.
"Soundscapes of Life calls for listening - listening deeply and openly to grasp the dominant processes shaping the world. Listening, we learn, is an essential antidote to our self-enclosing, self- and Earth-damaging obsessions with control, with growth, with human exceptionalism. Yet until now, it hasn't always been clear how to listen, or how to do so in ways that navigate the balance between passivity and action. This book's listening and 'soundscaping' frameworks make a vital contribution to that task, teaching us not only how to listen, but how to 'sing along' in ways that foster more successful coexistence with the human and more-than-human world."
Dr Christopher Baird, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Queen's University, Belfast.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
File size
0,44 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-80363-9 (9781040803639)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€63.30
Not yet published
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€207.40
Not yet published
Person
Mike Edwards, PhD, is Chief Listening Officer at Sound Matters. An environmental educator, retreat coordinator, and didgeridoo player, his work builds deeper bonds between human and more-than-human worlds.
Content
Introduction Part 1: Soundscaping 1. Aural Experience - Bringing Another Sense Into The Mix 2. Soundscaping And Crises 3. Soundscaping For Change - Using The Soundscape To Create New Stories 4. Soundscaping Engagement Part 2: Listening 5. The Importance Of Listening 6. Integral Listening (IL) 7. The Integral Listening Framework (ILF) Part 3: Soundscapes Of Life 8. Case Study - The Soundscapes Of Life (SoL) Project 9. A Farewell To Connection
