SEEING SOUND

Seeing Sound Project Information

Read below to find out more about how the project came together, what aphasia is and how it affects people and the project partners.

Seeing Sound was a partnership between the British Library, the Free Space Project (London) and The Brain Charity (Liverpool) to explore language through natural sounds taken from the British Library’s extensive sound archive. The project was designed for people living with aphasia, an impairment in language following an injury to the brain, most commonly from a stroke in the left hemisphere.

Between November 2020 and February 2021 two locally-based groups (London and Liverpool) met online to explore sounds from the natural world with artist and speech and language therapist Cat Andrew. From historical coastal sounds to the ambience of woodlands, the groups were supported to create visual artworks visualising different sounds. Participants were invited to exhibit their work in Kentish Town Health Centre from April - July 2021 and in our virtual exhibition.

The sounds were curated from the British Library's sound archive, as part of the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project. The recordings from this project and many more are available on the British Library’s sound website.

“Recordings selected for the project were drawn from the library’s vast archive of over 260,000 wildlife & environmental sounds. When curating the packages, I wanted to bring together a diverse selection of sounds that would help participants visualise the various habitats in different ways. Some sounds were beautiful, a few were unexpected, but, as sound is such an evocative medium, all had great potential to inspire. Being able to share recordings and hear such positive feedback from participants was an incredibly rewarding experience and it was wonderful to see the collection being used for such a worthwhile project.“

— Cheryl Tipp, Curator Wildlife & Environmental Sounds

Each participant was sent a package of high quality materials to use: an A3 sketchbook, charcoal, watercolours and paintbrushes, tissue paper, masking tape, pencils, an eraser and a glue stick.

Feedback & Learning from Seeing Sound

What is aphasia?

Aphasia is when a person has difficulty with their language or speech. It's usually caused by damage to the left side of the brain, for example, after a stroke, severe head injury, a brain tumour or conditions that cause the brain and nervous system to become damaged over time, such as dementia. It can affect people of all ages and is most common in people over the age of 65. Although it affects a person’s ability to communicate, it doesn’t affect their intelligence.

People with aphasia often have trouble with the 4 main ways people understand and use language. Aphasia is often classified as expressive or receptive depending on if the difficulties are with understanding or expressing language, or both.

These difficulties are:

• Reading

• Listening

• Speaking

• Typing or writing

About the Project by Cat Andrew

Cat is a speech and language therapist and artist. Cat has been running a project called Drawing for People with Aphasia for the past 7 years teaching observational drawing to people with aphasia. Cat completed a masters project looking at the benefits of this and found that learning observational drawing had improved people’s confidence, concentration, mood and communication.

In the Seeing Sound project we made work based on what we were hearing rather than seeing. The object was not to draw something that looked like something else, but instead to respond to the sound by making marks. Taking the pressure away to do a ‘good’ drawing allowed people to really immerse themselves in the experience and feel free to make bold, confident work. The amount of work produced in a short time, and the quality, was astonishing. Listening to sounds without language meant that the language processing element (which is difficult for people with aphasia) was bypassed, and they could attune their ears and respond with their eyes and enjoy a full sensory creative experience without feeling frustrated by their language difficulties.

The groups bonded quickly, and there was a real sense of mutual support, and of inspiring each other. Many participants have joined the aphasia drawing group to continue their art journey, and we have started to incorporate sound in the group as a result of the project, which has added a wonderful new dimension to our work.

The British Library’s Sound Archive

Unlocking our Sound Heritage is a UK-wide project running between 2017-2022 that will help save the nation’s sounds and open them up to everyone. The British Library is home to the nation’s Sound Archive, an extraordinary collection of over 6.5 million recordings of speech, music, wildlife and the environment, from the 1880s to the present day. However, the nation’s sound collections are under threat, both from physical degradation and as the means of playing them disappear from production.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and in partnership with ten institutions across the UK, the project aims to digitise and catalogue around half a million recordings in our collections. As part of Unlocking Our Sound Heritage, we are delivering a wide range of programmes for different audiences to provide access to these unique sounds. Our programmes aim to increase awareness and enjoyment of sound and explore the potential health and wellbeing benefits related to listening and sharing sounds.

About Free Space Project

The Free Space Project provides arts and community initiatives for patients from Kentish Town Health Centre. We work in collaboration with the NHS through a social prescribing partnership with the James Wigg and Queens Crescent GP practices in Kentish Town, Camden, London.

About The Brain Charity

The Brain Charity offers emotional support, practical help and social activities to anyone with a neurological condition and to their family, friends, and carers.

There are hundreds of different neurological conditions in existence, including aphasia – we are here for every single one.

The Brain Charity worked with arts producer Angela Samata, who helped produce the Liverpool group’s sessions.