Hearing one’s own footsteps is a proposed noise standard for cities

Evidence

Murray Schafer, the author of Tuning of the World (Random House, 1977), has proposed that the ability to hear our own footsteps should be a noise standard for cities, meaning, simply, that the places that we inhabit should be quiet enough that we can hear ourselves (and others) walk. — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 310

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Schafer’s ‘hear our own footsteps’ criterion as a concrete, testable noise standard.
• XREF: Connects to Murray Schafer as the acoustic-ecology forebear cited throughout the genre. — connects to: Headphone listening reveals sounds ordinarily outside awareness — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 279; Attending closely to movement reveals a whole vivid soundscape within walking — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 431
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 310

Broader Connections

• Attending closely to movement reveals a whole vivid soundscape within walking #expands (0.85) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 431
• Headphone listening reveals sounds ordinarily outside awareness #expands (0.75) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 279