Berlin, 18 July 2024

World Listening Day

World Listening Day marks the 91st birthday of Canadian composer and sound researcher Raymond Murray Schafer (18 July 1933 – 14 August 2021). He is the inventor of the World Soundscape Project (WLP) and author of the book The Tuning of the World (1977), in which he explains his understanding of the environment as a ‘soundscape’ and examines the influence of the acoustic environment on people’s willingness and ability to hear and listen. In order to sharpen the spatial perception of sounds, especially in noisy environments, he invented an auditory training exercise concept. Since then, scientists, therapists and hearing care professionals have given a great deal of thought to auditory therapies that further improve hearing sensitivity, especially in cases of increasing hearing loss in old age and/or tinnitus.