Founded by Hayley Suviste and Ryan Woods in 2018, The Manchester Ear is a sound-based project exploring how listening can change our relationship with the places we live. Through sound walks, deep listening sessions, and field recording workshops, we invite people to slow down, pay attention and experience their local environment through sound.


Our work is rooted in ideas of acoustic ecology, deep listening and place-based practice, while also exploring the social and wellbeing benefits of listening together. We work with communities across Manchester and beyond to notice the sounds that surround us, from the everyday and overlooked to the unexpected and unfamiliar.


At the heart of The Manchester Ear is a simple question: what happens when we stop and really listen to the place we call home?


Our activities encourage participants to engage with their real, lived environments and to think critically about the ways we inhabit them. What are we taking for granted? What sounds have become so familiar that we no longer notice them? What does listening reveal about the way our communities, cities and wider living environments are changing? And what might we want to imagine differently?


We see listening as both a way of paying attention and a way of opening up conversation. By reflecting together during our walks and workshops, participants can share different experiences and perspectives, question assumptions and consider our relationships with the more-than-human world. Through this, The Manchester Ear aims to foster curiosity, connection and a deeper appreciation of the places we live.