The Soundscape Association of Taiwan has invited Taipei residents to “listen to the breathing of the city” as it celebrates its second annual Taipei Listening Day today with a series of talks and outings through the end of the month.
Living in a concrete jungle, Taipei’s residents have become accustomed to filtering the sounds that enter their ears, association founder and director Laila Fan (范欽慧) said.
Thus, she wants to invite them to listen to the breathing of the city through the “soundprints” it emits,” she said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
By doing so, Fan said she hopes that a deeper connection to the environment would be awakened.
“In the past, when we visited the Taipei Bridge, where there is a ‘waterfall of motorcycles,’ all we could hear were the sounds of motorcycle engines and exhausts, which reached more than 100 decibels, but in fact, standing on the bridge, there are many sounds from nature that we can also hear,” Fan said.
“As long as you open your ears and remove the things that cover the texture and the sound of the land, you will hear the voice of the city,” she said.
“Sounds have the ability to recreate concentrated spaces, but after being in the city for too long, everyone has forgotten what it feels like to open their ears,” she said.
Fan, who founded the association in 2015, has produced and hosted National Education Radio’s weekly environmental education program Nature Notes since it began in 1997.
Her many roles have included a documentary filmmaker, a nature writer and a television host.
Fan said she became obsessed with sounds when she was birdwatching as a student.
At the time, while she was able to quickly identify a bird by just looking at it through the telescope, she could not do so by listening to their cries.
She trained herself to identify birds by their cries. Fan said it is not enough for her to see things.
She wants to use her ears to connect with the sounds of nature around her, she said.
“When you look with your eyes, things are flat, but when you listen, all the layers and textures emerge one by one,” Fan said. “Sounds have always been in our surroundings. What we need to do is open our ears.”
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