The sound of Indonesian cities

A preliminary study to map the unique sound variations in ten cities in Indonesia was carried out at the most visited public places in those cities. Data was collected online from local experts in urban design, which provides resumes from the three most favourite public places and the typical sounds in each city. Using the classification of public places by Carr (1992) and modest statistical analysis; parks are the most famous place to visit (43%). At the second place is square and memorial sites (27%). As an archipelago, waterfronts (20%) are also a favourite public place to visit in Indonesian cities. One hundred and eighteen sound sources were identified from thirty favourite places in the ten cities. Given the rich culture and vibrant tradition, the sound in each city shall be unique. Unfortunately, in parks and squares, traffic and people are the most dominant sources of sound. Meanwhile, natural sounds like water and birds are the least heard. Even along the waterfront, the sound of water is masked by the dominance of traffic noise, human noise and boat noise. This is ironic because people visit these places for recreational and leisure purposes.