Acoustic pattern
Level and change over time
Aggregate sound level, statistical ranges, frequency-band energy, coverage, and quality flags for documented intervals.
GeoSonic Sound Network
Research conceptMeasuring how outdoor places sound over time
GeoSonic is a proposed network of small, permissioned field devices that would measure aggregate sound levels and broad sound patterns without storing raw audio.
Where it started
How GeoSonic started
Alcove's earliest planning began during the 2024 REDI Lab Summer Program through Colorado Academy. The GeoSonic system was developed further in a Science Research class at Denver East High School taught by David Scalisi.
That progression—from a question about how outdoor places feel and sound to a proposed sensing system—continues to shape the project's emphasis on local processing, privacy, validation, and practical field design.
Read the full origin storyIndependent student project
The educational programs and people connected to the project's development are credited with gratitude. Alcove and GeoSonic are not represented as sponsored or operated by those institutions.
The core promise
Local processing with aggregate results
A device briefly processes microphone samples in volatile memory, calculates allowed metrics, and overwrites the samples. Normal field firmware is being designed without audio-file storage, remote listening, speech transcription, or an audio-upload path.
Non-retention reduces privacy risk, but it does not replace legal review, land-manager permission, visible site notice, independent validation, or careful location selection.
Allowed field payload
Metrics, not recordingsLevel / broad type / weather / quality / device health
Planning-grade research
What the first pilot should measure
The initial goal is credible trend and planning information - not regulatory enforcement, conversation analysis, or certified Class 1 or Class 2 sound-level measurement.
Broad context
Nature, people, weather, unknown
Coarse proportions such as anthropogenic, biological, and environmental sound - only where validation supports the category.
Instrument health
Know when not to trust a reading
Temperature, humidity, wind or rain proxy, power, uptime, connection, firmware, calibration version, and fault flags.
Hard boundaries
What GeoSonic is not designed to determine
- Words, topics, language, identity, emotion, or individual conversations.
- Individual movement, occupancy, protected traits, or enforcement targets.
- Exact species presence without a separately reviewed ecological method.
- Medical, hearing-risk, or ordinance-compliance conclusions.
- Paid rankings or sponsor-influenced quiet, access, trust, or recommendation scores.
Why it matters
How the data could help
Time-aware soundscape information could help someone choose a calmer visit window, help a land manager understand change, help a researcher collect repeated measurements without a large audio archive, and help identify where professional follow-up is warranted.
Public information should be delayed, aggregated, quality-labeled, and spatially coarsened where wildlife, vulnerable communities, or sensitive facilities could be exposed.
A staged path
Test the method before expanding the network
- Bench prototypeCompare microphones, processing, power, weather protection, and calibration stability.
- Controlled outdoor validationTest wind, rain, temperature, enclosure effects, and broad classification against approved reference methods.
- Small permissioned pilotDeploy only with written authorization, site notice, legal review, documented mounting, and a removal plan.
- Partner usefulness studyDetermine which management, research, or public-planning decisions the data actually improves.
- Responsible expansionScale only after independent review, reliable field performance, clear governance, and demonstrated demand.
Partner with the pilot
Partners needed for the first pilot
The strongest first pilot will combine an eligible public or nonprofit lead, a land manager, acoustic or environmental research guidance, community input, and a clearly bounded public-benefit question.
Alcove will not install devices on public land or living trees without written approval and an appropriate, non-damaging mounting plan.
Interested in collaboration?
Universities, agencies, parks, open-space programs, conservation organizations, community groups, acoustic researchers, and privacy reviewers can contact support@alcoveoutdoors.com.