Favourite Sounds Project

The 'Favourite Sounds Project' is a long running sound art project.

The Favourite Sound Project was first set up in London for the radio station ResonanceFM during 1998 and has been running since. The research objective is to discover what city dwellers find positive about their city's soundscape by asking the simple question, "what is your favourite sound of city X, and why?", where X represents the city under investigation. The replies create a database of knowledge about the city's sounds and the emotional often subjective and personal responses associated with them. Collectively the Favourite Sound projects reveals much about the significance of sound in everyday life.

In London over 1000 responses have been received and many of the sounds have been recorded. The material has been used for radio programs worldwide (including BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio London, WDR (Cologne), NPR (USA)); it has been curated in an exhibition (Articulated at the OXO Tower in 2006); and has emerged as a CD entitled Your Favourite London Sounds, which received a five star review in The Guardian among other accolades.

The project has engaged media and educational interest and fed into a policy document produced by the Greater London Authority environment department that was dedicated to London's new ambient noise strategy, published in 2004.

As the project has moved geographically to incorporate Beijing, Chicago and, most recently, Manchester, the research has taken on a comparative perspective. As it has unfolded over time, the research has proven the potential for sound to document change in the soundscape and, by extension, the urban environment itself.

• http:\\www.favouritelondonsounds.org