Hong Kong soundscapes in 3D
Traffic and construction in To Kwa Wan.
Copyright 2024 by 3D Hong Kong Topophonies.
Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
3D Hong Kong Topophonies is a research project that aims to capture and preserve the unique soundscapes of Hong Kong as intangible heritage using 3D sound recording and reproduction technologies. Their website offers an online archive for experiencing, reimagining and reinterpreting soundscapes of Hong Kong. The project is rooted in the fields of soundscape studies and acoustic ecology, as it contributes to raising awareness of our complex relationship with our environment and sense of place through sounds, as well as the value of sound preservation.
The archive encompasses five representative types of landscapes found in Hong Kong: new towns, old towns, villages, industrial areas, and nature. Through the online sound map, you can immerse yourself in these places through binaural audio recordings, and we aspire to foster interdisciplinary soundscape research and facilitate educational opportunities through this immersive online platform.
In this research project, an archive is not only about the preservation of documents from the past, but also a platform for generating new knowledge through various ways of making sense of it and for creating new forms of engagement to reinterpret its content. By offering recordings under the Creative Commons License, they encourage creative and interdisciplinary research, enabling users to experience and repurpose the content anytime and anywhere and anywhere, facilitating strong international dissemination of the research.
By preserving soundmarks, sounds of local cultural activities, natural and urban soundscapes, and potentially disappearing sounds, the project seeks to create an extensive intangible heritage archive for future generations. Their platform has potential for interdisciplinary exploration and artistic engagement, offering an aesthetic system for organising the archive and creating new opportunities for research and creative practice.
Cedric Maridet leads the research project at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. The recordings are made with ambisonic microphones from Sennheiser, Zylia, and spcmic. Binaural versions are available for download at the website. 1st- and 3rd-order ambisonic recordings are available upon request.
