The separation of musical study from ecological concerns of the acoustic environment is argued as no longer tenable on the grounds that the negative influence of noise affects both the physiological health and the psychological listening ability of musicians and audience. Soundscape studies is proposed as a discipline which is concerned with the relation of man and the environment through sound, and which thereby links the study of musical behaviour to sound comprehension in general. Simon's notion of “sciences of the artificial” is applied to soundscape studies in order to emphasize that such a discipline is concerned with how sound functions within a system of individual and collective understanding. Activities of the World Soundscape Project of Simon Fraser University are briefly outlined, including a summary of recent work. The notion of the acoustic community is introduced as a model of a naturally evolved and balanced soundscape. Criteria and strategies for acoustic design that are suggested by the model are presented. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09298217708570229?journalCode=nnmr19