Multispecies soundscapes: a more-than-human approach

Sound and listening are integral to how communities engage with environments. Accordingly, many soundscape research projects are currently carried out to improve environments, with methods rapidly developing in a variety of human and non-human-centred fields. Although developments are taking place in parallel, approaches are yet to be fully integrated for the design and planning of multispecies soundscapes for the health and well-being of all communities. Human and non-human approaches to soundscape research differ not only in the methods used to assess the soundscape (subjective versus objective) but also in the conceptualisation of soundscapes and the aims of their research. This paper is an exploratory proposition towards the alignment of human and non-human soundscape approaches and aims to instigate questions and further research towards the expansion of soundscape practices. The paper argues that the planning and design of multispecies soundscapes requires the understanding of different conceptualisations and aims before attempting to integrate methods, and critically reviews incipient approaches and practices that are seeking to bridge subjective and objective, human and non-human, soundscape research.