Experiencing Recorded Geophony. Listening to Artctic Winter Winds at Home.

Abstract

The howling Arctic winds is a familiar sound to many of us, either by direct experience in everyday life or from the sound design in countless fiction and documentary films that are set in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions. Such sounds might be associated with a setting that includes wild nature where the dangerous cold needs to be escaped, or perhaps the contrary: a more relaxed setting that depicts the taming of nature, sitting inside a warm and comforting “cave,” relaxing and rather enjoying the sounds of the cold winds outside. The following discussion will present how these sounds involve individual differences and ambivalence when commented upon in YouTube commentary fields in connection with the playback of seven selected videos that present such winter winds. You can test your own experience by playing back one of the seven long duration videos that are included in the following discussion.