Sounding Soil: An Acoustic, Ecological & Artistic Investigation of Soil Life

The interdisciplinary Sounding Soil project explores the soil’s soundscape and renders experienceable and investigable the activity and diversity of soil life in an artistic-acoustic observatory. The main aim is to increase soil awareness in the general population as well as among decision-makers involved in soil policies and food producers. While moving through or digging the soil matrix, the soil fauna produces noises. Moreover, some animals seem to use the soil as a communication medium, forming a complex soundscape. Land use and agricultural management may have marked effects on the soil soundscape. Thus, the (acoustic) richness of a local soil animal community may serve as an indicator of the functioning of a soil ecosystem. In the scientific module of the Sounding Soil project, we implement and test acoustic indices to assess soil biodiversity and community composition. In the art and citizen science module, several Swiss farmers and subsequently the broader public record the soundscapes of their soils with a low-cost recording device. The result is a sound art installation as a publicly accessible observatory, integrating our scientific findings with recordings by participants in the citizen science module. This article describes the character of soil soundscapes in agricultural land and forests and reports on our research design and first insights into the relations between land use, soil types, biodiversity, and soil soundscapes.