Is Sound Walks the Future of Travel

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives by a huge margin. Be it travel, education or healthcare, technology-driven solutions are coming handy to beat the lockdown blues. Sound Walks are the latest offering on the block. A soundwalk can be a lot of things. It can be experienced on an actual walk, guiding you through a live excursion, or can be listened to as a standalone piece in the comfort of your home. 

365 Leeds Stories, a community project based in Leeds has come up with &lsquoA Garden Through Time&rsquo, an immersive geographically localised audio-walk, available through the Echoes App. The GPS on the phone tracks your location and movements and triggers music, sound and speech. You can listen to Pauline Meyers, a local artist, talk about the flora and fauna in Britain&rsquos zoological and botanical gardens. The audio tour is insightful, engaging and accurately rooted in the surroundings.

According to Andrew Stuck, the co-founder of Sound Walk September, each year people from Japan, Belgium and Brazil submit sound walks similar to &lsquoA Garden Through Time&rsquo to the Walk Listen Create platform. Though there are several challenges of producing sound walks during a pandemic, the entries have interestingly quadrupled this year. These walks have been designed to be experienced in isolation. The line up this year includes performative art, reportage and travelogue.