Speaker
Description
In its 2024 summer competition, the Tourist Organisation of the lower Engadin (TESSVM) asked holidaymakers about their favourite sound in this vacation region. It received 2,500 responses. Almost 500 of these included further details (e.g., the exact location) or a reason for their choice. The huge response made it interesting to conduct an in-depth evaluation with regard to the following questions: • Which sounds were mentioned most frequently; are they exclusively natural or also technical? Does the ranking correspond to other studies in urban or suburban or Alpine recreational areas? • Do these sounds have common acoustic characteristics (level, spectrum, time evolution)? • To what extent are they linked to a specific place, situation, or experience? • What determines the choice of favourite sound: is it the acoustic “harmony” or associations it evokes, or ...? The most popular sounds are those of water, e.g., mountain streams or village fountains. These are followed by marmots. Birds come in third place, followed by cow bells and herd bells. When it comes to technical sounds, the iconic three-tone post bus horn comes out on top. Women contributed two-thirds of the responses, men one-third. Only two sounds showed significant differences: men had a stronger affinity for stag bellowing, women for crickets chirping.The most popular sounds are completely different acoustically. One of the conclusions is that for the sound perception in such a recreational context, it is not the sound itself that matters, but its source and the associations and emotions it evokes. The presentation will be illustrated by short audio demonstrations.