About the project
‘Sound Matters’ was a collaborative project between the University of Salford, the University of Southampton, and a number of public engagement partners including The UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC). The project was funded by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with the goal of engaging the public with both the science of acoustics and engineering research in its broader sense.
The Sound Matters project was made up of a number of different strands aimed at engaging students and the public of all ages in a variety of ways. These included:
- a series of sound-based dialogue activities by ASDC in partnership with three UK science centres
- a sound-based arts project
- a film project
- workshops where students made musical instruments out of vegetables
- the creation of a new one-hour sound show for students
The project also led to the creation of a new Sound Matters schools workshop based on dialogue which we are happy to share with science and discovery centres if the project chooses.
Most UK science and discovery centres run sound-based workshops with lots of intriguing and curious sound demonstrations; the purpose of this project was to get students talking about sound, considering their hearing and having a deeper, longer-term impact around their relationship with sound.