Definition
Humans are a product of nature thus could be considered part of nature. Sound produced by actions performed by humans should be included then, but where to draw the line: throwing a rock in a river, striking flints, chopping wood, hammering nails? Should man-made objects be included in the definition? Including combustion engines would probably go a step too far but maybe simple shelters wouldn't. Consider the sound of rain falling on the roof of a building: Is rain unnatural if it falls on a man-made building constructed with man-made materials? The answer is probably that it depends on the characteristic of the produced sound. If the sound of falling drops of water is predominant the sound is natural, if the sound of the material is predominant the sound is unnatural.
The category of natural sounds has no precise definition but is most useful to emphasize a dissimilarity between industrial or traffic-heavy soundscapes and park or forrest soundscapes. Sounds that could be seen as the most contrasting with natural sounds are beeps and blips from computers and modern cash registers.
Natural sounds are restricted to natural sources in their normal soundscape because clips of isolated natural sources are like sound bites: without context the sounds are prone to be misinterpreted.
Read more about this topic: Natural Sounds
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“One definition of man is “an intelligence served by organs.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is very hard to give a just definition of love. The most we can say of it is this: that in the soul, it is a desire to rule; in the spirit, it is a sympathy; and in the body, it is but a hidden and subtle desire to possess—after many mysteries—what one loves.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)