Search for a command to run...
There is a growing interest in the role of the senses in the perception, understanding of, and relationship with environmental change (Lenzi et al., 2025). Sound, light, and smell are all believed to contribute to defining the relationship of an environment with those who inhabit it (Lindborg et al., 2024). Animals also perceive the environment in a multimodal manner using cues from smells, sounds, and sights to operate, especially in uncertain conditions (Munoz et al., 2012). Among the sensory modalities, sound - and the act of listening - received the most attention in research, with its beneficial impact on community health and well-being, as well as the restorative potential of sound, being extensively documented (Levenhagen et al., 2021).In recent years, artists, designers, and activists have started to engage with sound-driven practices to increase the public understanding of how the environment behaves, changes, and ultimately challenges us (Lenzi and Ciuccarelli, 2022). In this presentation, we focus on how sound artists and sonification designers are employing sound in response to climate change scenarios and environmental variables. We explore the potential of sound to offer an emotional, experiential and embodied engagement with environmental data, and provide new possibilities for the perception and understanding of environmental change.Through the analysis of 55 projects, we will reflect on two distinct approaches: a) data sonification, i.e. the translation of environmental data into an auditory artifact for data exploration and engagement, and b) speculative sonic processes, i.e. the use of climate change scenarios and speculative storytelling for the manipulation of environmental sounds as a means of communication and engagement. Based on a method defined for the analysis of the Data Sonification Archive (Lenzi et al., 2020), projects will be analysed based on the author’s intention (e.g., art, public engagement, activism, journalism), the type of source data (e.g., the environmental phenomenon that data represent), the expected audience (e.g., experts, general public).Selected cases will be presented in depth, such as the sound works Water-drought patterns (Panourgia, 2023) and Soil narrations (Panourgia, 2024) that shape environmental sounds as a way to imagine change in future landscapes from a more-than-human perspective. The presentation will be an opportunity for participants not only to reflect on the potential of sound as a means of improving individual and collective sensemaking of environmental phenomena, but also to engage in the first person in listening as an act of knowledge and engagement with the complexity of such phenomena.