About the project

Soundlapse is a transdisciplinary project at the Universidad Austral de Chile, launched in 2019. It brings together soundscape recording, acoustic ecology, artificial intelligence, immersive audio, artistic creation and environmental education, with a focus on urban wetlands and the ecosystems of southern Chile. It has been supported by three successive FONDECYT Regular grants, the most recent being No. 1250388 (2025).

Between 2019 and 2026, the project website records 124 milestones. Scientific output includes eight articles in journals such as Applied Sciences, Leonardo, Computer Music Journal, International Journal of Engineering Education, Sustainability and Pattern Recognition Letters. The team has also given 19 presentations at conferences including ICMC, NYCEMF, BEAST FEaST, IAFOR and the Ibero-American Congress on Acoustics. In technological development, the project has produced a sonic time-lapse algorithm, an automatic bird detector and the Soundscape evaluator app. It has also created the educational repository sonidosdeaves.cl and a network of acoustic monitoring stations.

The artistic strand comprises 28 milestones. These include two albums released on the Gruenrekorder label and works by composers from at least seven countries, performed in Europe, North America and Latin America. In 2026 the BBC requested one of these works. In education, the project has run workshops with schools and centres such as CEHUM and CECREA and produced teaching materials. It has also trained undergraduate and master’s students, one of whom graduated with highest distinction.

The project has received the Avonni Patagonia Award 2019, two awards at Computer Space 2020 and the HUB Sustainability Award 2021, and was a finalist for the Lumen Prize 2021. Its partners include the universities of Bergen, Newcastle and Kent, University of the Arts London, Fundación Mar Adentro and CEDEUS. Taken together, these outcomes reflect a sustained trajectory that links research, creative practice and public engagement at national and international levels.