1) Feb. 3nd, 2012, 12 a.m., Dorm Room: Alliance Hall

2) The sounds furthest away from me are in front of me, down the hall, my resident advisor is counseling a couple who have been arguing. To the left of me, in the adjacent room, the residents are scooting their desk chair across the floor, and behind me, outside the window, a low hum comes from a generator that is on 24/7.

3) Sounds at medium range from me are people entering and exiting the bathroom, and inside of it washing hands and doors from the stalls closing and locking. The refrigerator in the room hums every five minutes, it sounds like an easy flow of electricity.

4)The sounds nearest to me are my friend who is napping next to me, her breaths are constant, only interrupted when she changes her position and the sheets around her rustle around. Also, my roommate has a friend over; they both feel more comfortable speaking in Portuguese, their native language and congratulate each other when achieving goals in their video game.  The video game they are playing features sounds of men shouting, and machine guns firing, this is underscored with hunting music.

5) When all sounds are taken in at once, it sounds more distant than live; it’s not too loud, and it almost sounds orchestrated.  The hum outside is quiet and never ending, and the breathing of my friend is just as relaxing. Adding to that is the conversation out in the hall, words can’t be recognized, but instead add a mush of notes. The voices switch from one peson to another about every fifteen to thirty seconds, each bringing a new range of notes. The conversation between the guys in  the room add the lyrics, in another language, to the orchestration. They speak quite fast and very excited, a bit louder than the rest of the sounds. Lastly, the scooting of chairs, closing of doors, and washing of hands, come so sporadically but are quiet enough to not cause any alarm.

6) In one word, this sound environment may be described as “diffused”

7)I feel that three necessary components to reciprocate this sound environment, would be the muffled conversation out in the hall, the conversation between the two guys in the room, and the breathing of my sleeping friend.

1- 2/2/11- 12:19 p.m. – My Dorm Room

2-There is a faint noise of an airplane flying away outside and someone is using the shower down the hall.  There is a very very faint noise of people talking either in their dorm room or outside.  Every so often I hear the quiet beep of the elevator as it reaches each floor.

3-  I can hear the sounds of my roommate typing at his computer and the printer warming up.  The refrigerator and microwave unit produces a low hum as well as the air conditioning unit.  There is always some sort of tapping or scraping sound that comes from above our room.

4- My computer has a fan noise that is prominent when close to it.  My sniffling and coughing are very noticeable sounds as well as the typing that I am doing.  Another sound is the vibration from getting a text on my phone against my desk.

5-The general sound level is low but there is a lot of sound activity.

6- Calm

7- Typing, low humming sounds and the distant airplane.  I think of these as soft sounds that help create a calm environment.