CMST 3Z03 sound of everyday mobility

Welcome to our soundwalk. We are going to explore the sounds of both busy and quiet environments across various spaces on McMaster Campus. The purpose of this soundwalk is for participants to engage with the campus and the sounds that are heard, noticing the unique acoustic qualities of each space.

Just as students carry their classrooms with them across campus through mobile practices and technology, this sound walk will be taking you across various spaces, exposing you to different locations where extending learning beyond the traditional classroom is possible. Throughout this soundwalk, you will be discovering diverse study spots, with unique atmospheres, where students find themselves focused and productive.

The sound walk from McMaster bus stop to Starbucks in Student Center.

Explore McMaster's campus, from the busiest building to the quietest outdoor corner, and everything in between. Notice to how we interact with the world around us, connect with each other and ourselves, and how these interactions change based on our surroundings.

“Step into the McMaster Student Center’s soundscape, where architecture, movement, and accessibility converge in everyday life. Listen for the hum of foot traffic, clicks of automatic doors, and overlapping conversations—each a clue to how people navigate this space. Walk carefully, be mindful of physical obstacles, and keep your device volume balanced so you don’t miss real-world cues.”

Listen to audio recordings of unique places around McMaster University, as a student would explore these special places on a tour.

Our Sound Walk proposal presents the campus's common soundscapes in diverse ways. This route extends from Whidden Hall to the Health Sciences Center, focusing on environment, body, and artistry: the melodious notes of a piano intertwined with the creak of automatic doors, footsteps ascending stairs, the hum of elevators, and the whoosh of sliding doors. These sounds reveal the multifaceted ways in which different bodies on campus gain or face limitations in their freedom of movement. A second dimension—the roar of engines, screeching brakes, and announcements at the corner bus stop—links campus mobility to the broader urban pulse. These paths remind Sound Walk participants that soundscapes are not only about access rights but also weave into everyday experience.By foregrounding sound as art, the walk also demonstrates how listening practices reveal the dynamic interplay between environment and human mobility. In doing so, it aligns with course discussions about the aesthetic, bodily, and environmental dimensions of movement while grounding them in McMaster’s lived campus experience.

Our project explores the theme of everyday mobility on campus, telling the story of a student’s day from arriving by bus to studying, eating, and heading home. Listeners move through the bus stop, library path, quiet study area, MUSC food court, and crosswalks, hearing buses, footsteps, pages turning, food preparation, cashier sounds, and traffic to experience the campus through sound.