Acoustic Ecology, soundscape, Soundscape Ecology, Soundwalk Highlights 

Even though the term “soundscape” is strictly ecological, it has been incorporated in various interdisciplinary studies. The definitions attributed to this term to date, in chronological order, reveal its ecological roots. Nevertheless, the ecological background of soundscapes did not pose as a barrier towards its expansion, but was rather beneficiary towards environmental sciences and other disciplines. These incorporations are the reason for the theoretical broadening of the term. This specific review highlights the use of an ecological term in non- ecological disciplines. Furthermore, the mapping of this extension over the years as well as the identifying any trends in the term’s use per discipline, haven’t been researched to date. In order to answer these questions, we initially assessed all publications appearing between 1969 and 2011 that incorporated the term “soundscape” in their title (about 3,200 references). Multiple and non-scientific entries were excluded from the research by filtering the results. The final dataset (979 entries) was classified regarding year of publication and scientific sub-discipline. Our results indicate “outbursts” regarding publication number in soundscape literature that could be attributed amongst other reasons, to several legislative developments concerning the assessment and management of environmental noise. 

https://www.env.aegean.gr/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Matsinos-et-al_AEJES_2016.pdf