Scottish Soundscape Prize

In partnership with:

The 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering is to be held at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow on the 21-24 August 2022. This is the major international conference on acoustics and noise control engineering and attracts scientists, engineers and consultants from around the world.

The Congress is organised by the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) and the United Kingdom Acoustics Network (UKAN) on behalf of the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE).

The Congress theme is Noise Control in a more Sustainable Future. This theme is particularly timely and the congress venue is the same as that for the recent conference on climate change COP 26.

In a largely urban society, we are exposed to significant amounts of human-generated sound, which has a negative effect on our health and well-being. Fundamental to our everyday lives, nature is our life support system. It also has the power to help solve many of our problems, and we have a responsibility to regenerate degraded habitats and ecosystems and connect with their natural capital.

From combating climate change to reducing health inequalities, nature-based solutions can help humanity flourish alongside nature and sounds from nature generate physiological and psychological health benefits – reducing stress, increasing well-being, and even helping recover from illness or injury.

The Scottish Soundscape Prize

As part of the theme we would like to invite UK based students to enter submissions into a soundscape competition to create an experience that makes a difficult acoustic space in the SEC more pleasant, engaging, relaxing and restorative. A shortlist of submissions will be exhibited throughout the conference, and a winner and runner up will be chosen by a panel following judging its performance from within the space.

The winning submission will receive an award presented by the conference chair, an invitation to the conference dinner on Tuesday 23^rd August, £500 from the prize sponsor Sustainable Acoustics Ltd plus electronic accolades for their exclusive use.

The runner up will be awarded a certificate and a prize of £250. All shortlisted submissions will gain exposure to a wide range of international delegates and companies representing elements of the acoustics sector across the world.

Competition Brief

It is not always possible for people to escape the noise of the city to a more natural environment so creating sound environments for wellness is an essential nutrient for sustainable cities. This soundscape should aim to make a noisy and reverberant space more relaxing and restorative to support the wellbeing of the listener.

The main theme of the piece should be inspired by Natural Scotland but from the perspective of Glasgow, with this context providing an anchor and sense of place, drawing from the rich human heritage of the area. The piece should embrace and explore humanity’s fundamental reliance on our natural world, providing a journey for the listener.

The soundscape should be accompanied by a video track using material selected from images and video of your choosing, but inspired where appropriate by our partners the Scottish Wildlife Trust (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SDxOy-F3gs). The piece should be between 5 and 10 minutes duration.

Technical requirements

The initial submission should be mixed down to a video file in H264, including a stereo audio mix using AAC at 320 kbps.

The final mix is expected to use spatial audio reproduction in some form (this is very adaptable from 4.0 up to ambisonic), with the final submission being a multi-channel uncompressed audio file (24 bit 48 kHz) with channel labelling (interleaved BWF), and a separate video file which will be synchronised for playback with the audio.

To enter the competition, please email Internoise2022@in-conference.org.uk. You will then be given access to the visual imagery to use within the video element of the piece. If you have specific technical queries or requirements please contact the organisers via Internoise2022@in-conference.org.uk

Competition Rules

In order to enter this competition, you must be a currently registered student at a University in the UK. You will be asked to provide proof of student status.
You must register for the competition by emailing internoise2022@in-conference.org.uk from a current university email address – instructions will be sent to this address.
As part of the soundscape you must produce an accompanying video/image track including being inspired by but not limited to regard for the visual materials provided by the Scottish Wildlife Trust (at the link provided – ignoring the audio track).
The stereo submission should be submitted no later than Friday 29^th July. You can submit by emailing a secure download link to the organisers (for instance Dopbox/Onedrive/Google Drive)
Notification of the shortlist will be sent out on Monday 8^th
The final mix should be provided by the shortlisted candidates no later than Monday 15^th