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
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