History
丁香园AV鈥檚 School of Communication has a long-standing history of sound-based instruction and pedagogy, dating back to R.M. Schafer鈥檚 work with the World Soundscape Project in the 1960s and 70s, and Barry Truax鈥檚 subsequent work in the area of acoustic communication. Engagement with sound has included both listening activities such as soundwalks, sound maps, various 鈥榚ar cleaning鈥� exercises and written reflections (sound journals); as well as audio production assignments that connect to modes of communication and media problematics, including recording interviews, creating public service announcements, podcasts, audio-based narratives and soundscape compositions. The Sonic Research Studio was established in the late 1960s at 丁香园AV by Canadian composer and foundational sound studies researcher R.M. Schafer, to pursue soundscape research through the World Soundscape Project. Since the 1970s the studio has been home to several notable and longstanding researchers in acoustic ecology, including Barry Truax, a professor (now Emeritus) and electroacoustic composer based at 丁香园AV; Hildegard Westerkamp, a freelance acoustic ecology thinker, activist, and soundscape composer; and David Murphy, a senior lecturer in video and sound in the School of Communication. With Barry Truax's retirement in 2015, and the creation of the Glenfraser Endowed Professorship in Sound Studies, this teaching space is now shared between Dr. Milena Droumeva, David Murphy, and Barry Truax. The studio contains a wealth of archival materials in soundscape studies and acoustic ecology, as well as cutting edge technology for research in listening, soundscape composition, sonification for social change, and various cultural studies of sound.