Three weeks back I asked the internets a simple question. "What's your favorite sound?"

It's the kind of question you either have have a stock answer for (guilty), or you've gotta think for a few seconds, scratching head, maybe even stopping and listening more often than usual, focusing on the acoustic ecology in your life.

Acoustic ecology? It's a ten-cent term for the study of sound in our immersive world...which, hey, you do know something about. Most of us have ears. And most of us use them regularly.

So what happens when we peek behind the sonic curtain and poke around? That's what you did, to entertaining effect.

Let's go straight to the data. I've taken some sloppy liberties with categories. Please excuse.

And if you have more music, sound, voice or silence to add, by all means, let it rip. Or roar.

AMBIENT NOISE

• @laurielamar: one of my favorite sounds is after a band goes onstage but before the band plays its first song. Highly contextual.
• D. Kirby: trains on train track is pretty cool. Announcements on pa system - uncool.
• J. Van Fleteren: Frogs
• J Gorman: Dogs snoring
• J. Franus: Song birds in the morning.
• T. Geoghegan: Yo you can't forget crickets yo. They're the crick-schizzle.
• A. Mayher: The waves of the ocean
• E. Reed: My toddler humming while he eats
• E. Reed: Cat purring
• E. Reed: The bird outside our window in Sydney that sang at night
• E. Reed: My Dad whistling in his shop
• E. Reed: The windchimes on my Grandma's porch

FOREGROUND SOUND

• J. Franus: The sound of our kids genuine laughter
• L. McPherson: My kids laughing
• D. O'Leary: Gavin (son) saying new phrases.
• C. Gibbon: My dog sighing.
• E. Reed: Really good tap dancers

SONIC INTERACTION

• @laurielamar: Another favorite sound is at 9000 feet, the wind sieving through sibilant pine trees, my skis hissing along snowy nordic tracks.
• D. Kirby: Stylus hitting the groove
• D. Kirby: Leather on willow (from the Brit posse)
• J. Gorman: The sound of a breaking york peppermint patty
• S. DiMattia: Breaking water with my paddle blade
• G. Fogarty: The sweet beep of our coffee maker letting me know it's ready!
• D. O'Leary: The pouring of beer from a bottle into a glass
• T. McBrien: A steamy hiss coming out of the magic soy latte machine in the kitchen.
• E. Reed: The bleep of a new message on my phone
• E. Reed: Pitch on a fire
• E. Reed: Popcorn (popping)
• E. Reed: Plastic packaging bubbles
• E. Reed: Wine cork popping

MUSIC

• J. Forte: Guitar
• H. Waud: The sound of the kids sleeping. And Duran Duran! (NF: all at once? Love it.)

That's it. Insights to come later. This is side-prep for a session I'm devising for SATE 2010 / Storytelling, Architecture, Technology, Experience this fall.

And special thanks to Emily and Dan for being so prolific—and entertaining,

-- Noel Franus