“Soundscape ideology recognizes that when humans enter an environment they have an immediate effect on the sounds; the soundscape is human made and in that sense, it is composed. Soundscape is the acoustic manifestation of “place”, where the sounds give the inhabitants a “sense of place” and the place’s acoustic quality is shaped by the inhabitant’s activities and behavior. The meanings of a place and its sounds are created precisely because of this interaction between soundscape and people” (Westerkamp 1991:2)”

In my study on the soundscapes of Istanbul, I consider soundscape as both containing the noises and the other sounds,as each are significant so that they have meanings for people who produce and receive them. All the humanly sounds are produced through and because of our perception and experience of the world as a whole. These sounds in turn, determine and change this perception, transform the experience, and change human minds. In that sense the soundscape is a dialectical system, where all the elements are interdependent. No matter we are conscious or not, the universe is full of sounds which have their effects on our very being. So, for me, music is the totality of all the sounds in the universe, and the “music” human beings produce is an element of this broad totality. 

In this site I will share my thoughts and notes during the research process on the soundscapes of Istanbul.