The sonic imagery of the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic catalysed disruptions and disturbances in ways of living across the globe. Many of these changes in daily life were felt through stark changes to our soundscapes, particularly those in urban centres. Might we better understand the effects of the Covid-19 lockdowns through sonic analysis? This chapter explores how sound analysis methods, including concepts of the sound-motion object and sonic image, might aid in understanding the environmental soundscapes of the pandemic lockdowns. The discussion focuses on the Sounding Covid-19 project—an initiative involving a series of field recordings carried out during Covid-19 pandemic-related events in the urban environments of Belfast, Northern Ireland (2020–2022) and Montreal, Canada (2020–2021). The project presents the sound archive through various listening experiences, including soundscape compositions, sound mapping and narrative-based radiophonic work. We consider how the pandemic may have invited us to pause and reconsider how we document and archive the present to look back and better understand the future. Sound may be vital in understanding our environment and the socio-cultural shifts over time. This chapter argues that documenting, preserving, and analysing the soundscapes of the pandemic lockdowns may help us reflect on our shared histories in several ways.