Boerum Hill Soundwalk

 I conducted my sound walk in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. I chose to do the sound walk in the morning, around 8am, because this is when the sounds of the neighborhood seem most “crisp” to me. Boerum Hill is unique in many ways because it borderers downtown Brooklyn, but it is also a tree-lined residential area, with few residents due to the many single family homes. The keynotes of my walk were the sounds of birds chirping, and the hum of traffic from Atlantic Avenue. I noticed several distinct types of bird call, some had sharp, short calls, and other sounded further away and happened with less frequency. The blocks with more trees had a louder and more wide array of bird noises but I could also hear cars on those blocks more clearly. I realized how sound affects my spacial perception of cars coming up behind me, beginning with a low purring that builds and then a whooshing sound as they pass. As I walked towards the Barclays Center, the sounds of cars becomes very pronounced and obscures most other noises. I noticed the clanging echo noise that trucks make as they hit metal plates covering the highway and how familiar the sounds are of trucks opening and closing their doors to unload their wares on Atlantic Avenue. Children were going to school as I conducted my walk and those were the only human voices I noticed clearly during my walk. Occasionally I heard people in their cars speaking on bluetooth to other people, but those sounds were more muffled and tinny.