Acoustic Communication Studies at Simon Fraser University

Abstract

With a nearly 30 year history, the teaching program in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University (SFU), at both the undergraduate and graduate level, may well be the oldest, continuous running curriculum related to soundscape studies and acoustic ecology. It was initiated by R. Murray Schafer and grew out of his work in music education, noise pollution, and soundscape studies in the 1960s and early 70s. Its current form began with the establishment of Communication Studies as a department in the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies at SFU in 1973 with Schafer as a Professor until his departure in 1975, the period that saw the seminal research work of the World Soundscape Project (WSP). Since 1974 the courses have been expanded, taught and supervised by Barry Truax with the assistance of instructors Hildegard Westerkamp, Susan Frykberg, Norbert Ruebsaat and Robert MacNevin.