<p dir="ltr">Background: Noise is often treated as unwanted in sound studies. In Schafer’s World Soundscape Project (1977), the composer contrasts ‘natural’ Hi-Fi with noisy Lo-Fi soundscapes. But Augoyard and Torgue (2005) challenge this view and remind us, other cultures may not see noise as disturbance. The project framework asks, what happens when a society is stripped of its sounds, its voices, rituals, and daily noise. Does a society still speak? When expression fades, does silence take over—or does something else begin to resonate? Questions of socio-cultural heritage and modernisation rise in the process. </p><p dir="ltr">Contribution: Black Murmur, a sound installation outcome developed as part of my PhD research project More-Than-Noise, explores how meaning emerges not through clarity or signal, but through vibration, affect, and shared presence (Nancy 2007). It was created from a field recording session under a suspended motorway bridge in the jungle, where I played electric guitar and listened to the surrounding birds' response, passing motorbikes, the echo of the unfinished infrastructure. The work doesn’t separate human expression from environmental sound or treat noise as just disruption. It suggests that listening isn’t only about hearing the sounds around us more presently, but the way we attune to them. Blending sound art and acoustic ecology, this practice responds to Vietnam’s rapidly changing sonic environments. Through field recording, live performance, and environmental interaction, the work doesn’t just document the sonic—it engages with it directly through noise poetics. </p><p dir="ltr">Significance: The creative work explores how a simple, situated act—playing open space for listening differently. The project invites the audience to think about sound as more than just what is heard, but as a way to connect with place, ecology, and cultural presence. Its significance lies in how it repositions environmental noise as something more-than-unwanted, creating space for a more open and inclusive way of listening. </p>
