Hearing and Listening in Urban Spaces: Sound, Health and Community (HEALUS)

1 September 2014 - 31 August 2017

About the research

Noise pollution and its detrimental health effects are of global concern. Addressing this concern, HEALUS will explore contemporary and future patterns of urban hearing by focusing on how cultural contexts of reception influence and shape health promotion—specifically, how sound, when configured and perceived in certain spaces, can promote wellbeing and help people to resist everyday problems. A mixed-method approach will be employed (survey, ethnographic interview, multi-sensory ethnography) to explore contexts of urban sound/noise and their experience in three strategically chosen urban locations (Lisbon, Budapest, London). Outputs will include a webbased sound mapping tool, two articles and a monograph.