Problem statement: The relation between hearing sounds and architecture is one of the neglected matters in studying the embodied experience of architecture. Accordingly, this paper addresses the relation between hearing sounds and place.
Research objective: To explore the whatness of the ‘auditory experience of place,’ this paper examines the diverse ways of thinking about the relation between sound and place through academic disciplines.
Research method: The paper introduces the intellectual foundations and content of these disciplines in a historical context by referring to diverse texts of the field. Therefore, the paper is based on “inquiry-based” research rather than a “hypothesis-based” one.
Conclusion: The analysis indicates three approaches: physical, psychological, and phenomenological. The paper begins with architectural acoustics, which is the starting point of studying sound and architecture in the field of building physics and indicates a conceptual turn in the studies from ‘sound’ in sciences (like acoustics, architectural acoustics, and psychoacoustics) into ‘hearing’ in human studies. Human-oriented sound studies include two main approaches: psychological approach, in the soundscape and its sub-disciplines like acoustemology and acoustic ecology as well as aural architecture; and phenomenological approach, in auditory place studies. Finally, the analytical comparison and a conclusion of these approaches indicate the movement of thought in these studies from quantity (in architectural acoustics aimed at sound control) toward quality (in the soundscape and aural architecture aimed at sound design) and more toward wholeness (in auditory place aimed at auditory understanding of place.)