The Sounds of Sports: Aural Soundscapes That Resonate With Sports
By Brian Graves
For many Americans and many people all throughout the world, sports mean a lot. It's no surprise that the human race gravitates towards sporting events because it's something that is out of our control, yet we all believe we have some impact on a certain athlete or a certain team. Having a favorite team or athlete is a way in which we all better "understand" the sport and relate with our fellow fans. Rivalries are essential to sport because as a fan, having your team/athlete win or lose ultimately ranks yourself against others. Sure, many people don't have a favorite team or athlete and just prefer to watch an event with no bias, but for the majority of sports goers, following a successful team or athlete makes life more enjoyable. This article is not about the affect of having a favorite team or athlete. This article will look into something many sports fans understand but mostly don't think about too much while watching a game or event; the sounds of sports and what they do to us as spectators.
Growing up, I was always fascinated with sports and some of my earliest memories involve my Dad and I going to professional baseball games. There's nothing quite like walking into an MLB stadium for the first time and just be absolutely mesmerized by the sights, smells, and most importantly, the sounds. The sounds of thousands of different conversations blending together, mobile food vendors screaming out their menus, a baseball clap as it's contained in a glove, and the crack of a bat signaling a hit. Watching a game live is so much better than on television because of these sounds. And it's not just baseball. Hockey, football, racing, soccer, tennis, you name it. It's better when you can hear it live.
Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Where I have my first memories of watching and listening to sports)
Anthony Mattana, founder and CEO of Hooke Audio, dives deeper into the importance of sound and baseball in his 2017 article: "The Importance of Sound and Baseball." His three main reasons for why sound makes baseball so impactful is: "(1) The sound of a baseball game is accessible, (2) The sound of a baseball announcer, and (3) The sound of a game is natural and filled with moments of silence." That last reason really made sense to me personally. Baseball is such a unique sport from a listening standpoint because it has so many moments of silence. Fans of the game will know however that the sound of a bat smacking a ball out of the park will immediately spark a loud reaction from the fans and spectators, given it's the home team that hits a home run. Even if you're not watching the game or you're in the restroom, the sound of the crowd will indicate something drastic has occurred. This is true in pretty much every sporting event. The crowd will indicate when something impactful has happened. In hockey for example, when a goal is scored, fans jump to their feet and applaud as the sound of the stadium's "goal horn" blasts off. Sounds mean so much in sports not just as indicators of what is happening, but as triggers that form memories and bring us back time and time again.
The aural soundscapes that resonate with sports can be compared to visuals. As human beings, we like attractive things. In sports, we like the colors, the look of the players or individual athlete, the uniforms, all of it. The same can be said about the sounds. We like and dislike specific sounds that have meaning. Whether good or bad meaning, we know as fans what specific sounds mean. Some would even suggest that sounds play a much bigger role than visuals do at a sporting event. I was interested in getting the perspective of a blind person when it comes to enjoying sports and if they even do. After doing little research, I came across a blind man named Tommy Edison who has his own podcast series on YouTube. He goes into great detail of how a blind person enjoys sports in the video clip below.
It is fascinating getting the perspective of a blind person like Tommy when it comes to enjoying sports. From his point of view, sound literally means everything when it comes to sports. I'm tempted to close my eyes for an extended period of time and just listen next time I'm at a baseball, hockey, or football game and let my ears tell me what is happening. It sounds like it wouldn't be as much fun, but I believe it will as sounds are implemented in these settings to paint the picture of occurrence.
Peregrine Andrews, author of "Sound of Sport: What is Real?" looks into eleven different sounds of sports from archery to horse racing and their unique sounds that many aren't familiar with. In the opening to his article, Andrews states that: "We think of the dominant sound of sports broadcasts as the commentator, but this is really about all the other sounds - the sounds underneath he commentary, the sounds of the event itself, and how they get onto your TV." (Andrews) While Andrews is focussing more on the sounds that we hear from sports when we aren't there (watching it on TV), he does a great job of offering several examples of sounds of sports. For example, the first sound he attempts to dissect is the sound of the Vuvuzela: "the plastic horn, popular with South African fans" during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. These fanatic soccer fans made the games so interesting because of the bellowing sound of thousands of deep horns blending together. This sound became the poster child of the whole world cup. This is what sounds in sports are capable of doing; taking over.
While researching different sports and their respected sounds that resonate with them, I found that motor sports had the most impactful sounds. The loudness of an engine roaring and wheels burning on a track hits the eardrum more severely than a baseball being hit by a bat. The loudness of racing forces the observer and listener to shift all their attention on the event. No other sport seems to make a sound like racing. RedBull is known globally in the auto racing world and they provide a very impactful aural experience in their video "Aaron Colton's Sound of Sport." The link below brings you to RedBull's website and video.
(Aaron Colton is a professional motorcyclist street racer sponsored by RedBull)
Through listening, sports become more impactful than we could have ever imagined. When we remember our favorite sports memories, we remember the sounds that resonated with them. Whether it be baseball, hockey, football, soccer, and so many more, we live for the sounds that are created within the sport. It's like a drug that keeps us coming back for more. Live games without an announcer telling you play by play is how the game was supposed to be experienced; absolutely raw and uncut. Sports mean everything to me and millions of people worldwide. We live and die supporting the teams and/or athletes we follow. Without sound, the experience just isn't the same.
USA vs. Canada: 2010 Winter Olympics Full Game. No Commentary
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