We cannot close our ears. Involuntary sounds can not only be experienced as disturbing, but can, in worst case, make us ill. Other sounds, like music or social gatherings can have the opposite effect and instead make us feel better.

Through this panel discussion, the Sound Environment Centre wants to shed light on the connection between sound and sustainability. What are the sounds of sustainability? Are there more or less sustainable sounds? How can we arrange our lives so that we can live more sustainably with and through the sounds around us?

After the panel discussion, composer Kajsa Antonsson presents her project "This is what sustainability sounds like (according to middle school students)" including a joint listening to the sound work "Can I listen?", specially created within the framework of the project. The sound work is based on workshops held with pupils at Lunds Montessorigrundskola. The children have been given opportunity to associate freely around the concept of sustainability, interpret it in sounds and relate the sounds to social movements such as Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion. The sound work will be played on the Sound Environment Centre's Sound Bench throughout the Sustainability Week.

Participants in the panel:
Martin Hallberg, Creative Director at Efterklang
David Larsson Heidenblad, History Docent at Lund University 
Viveka Lyberg-Åhlander, Professor of Logopaedics at Åbo Akademi 
Kristoffer Mattisson, Researcher at the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University

Moderator: Sanne Krogh Groth, Director of the Sound Environment Centre, Lund University 

Sound Artist: Kajsa Antonsson, Composer and Project Leader 

Kajsa Antonsson is a composer and cultural producer based in Malmö. Her work focuses on exploring how we perceive and think about sound, with a particular focus on how these are informed by the infrastructures and institutions we move through. She has done projects both in Sweden and internationally, including with Konstmusiksystrar (SE), Ung Nordisk Musik, Poste Restante (SE), Inter Arts Center (SE), Ultima Festival Oslo (NO), Nordic Music Days, among others.

Martin Hallberg is creative director of Efterklang, a group of 140 sound specialists in areas such as acoustics, community noise, sound design, vibration, and studio operations. He has a 25-year background in sound design and concept development for places and products, and is part of the project team that recently won Landmärket (the Swedish Architects' prize for the best landscape architecture of the year 2023).

David Larsson Heidenblad is Associate Professor of History at Lund University and the author of the book "Den gröna vändningen: En ny kunskapshistoria om miljöfrågornas genombrott i efterkrigstidens Sverige" (2021) (The Green Turn: A New History of Knowledge about the Breakthrough of Environmental Issues in Postwar Sweden). His research focuses on environmental history, the history of knowledge, and economic cultural history.

Viveka Lyberg-Åhlander is a certified Speech Language Pathologist. She is Professor of Speech Language Pathology at Åbo Akademi University, Finland, and a docent in Logopedics at Lund University. Lyberg Åhlander's research focuses on voice and voice disorders, and on how the speaker's voice quality and interactions affect the listener's understanding of the message. Lyberg Åhlander has designed and led/participated in two research projects studying the effects of workplace-based interventions aimed at strengthening teachers' communication where voice use is one important aspect. 

Kristoffer Mattisson works as a researcher at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at Lund University. His research focuses on environmental epidemiology, particularly understanding how various environmental exposures, such as noise, air pollution, and high temperatures, negatively affect human health, as well as how access to green spaces in cities can have a positive impact on health. He has a background in physical geography and therefore also has a research and educational interest in understanding how climate change may change the conditions for different environmental exposures.

Sanne Krogh Groth is Associate Professor of Musicology and director of the Sound Environment Centre at Lund University. Her research concerns historiographic, aesthetic, political and institutional issues within the fields of contemporary music, electronic music and sound art in the 20th and 21st century. Sanne is co-editor of the anthology "Negotiating Noise - Across Places, Spaces and Disciplines" (2021), which includes texts on the topic of noise written by 20 researchers from Europe and Southeast Asia. "What is noise, where can it be heard, and what should we do with it?"

This event is part of the Sustainability Week in Lund 2023, an annual event organized in collaboration between Lund University and Lunds kommun. This year, over 60 lectures, guided tours, exhibitions, and more are arranged.
Take part in the entire program here - www.hallbarhet.lu.se