ACOUSTIC BRANDING IN EDUCATION CITY: EXPLORING HOW SOUND SHAPES THE INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

Sound shapes institutional experience, yet institutions treat acoustic environments as incidental rather than strategic. While visual branding dominates scholarship, the auditory dimension remains underexplored. Using Education City in Doha as a case study, this research investigates how sound contributes to institutional identity by addressing the question: How does Education City's soundscape relate to its institutional branding values? Twenty locations across the campus were selected to represent Education City's core branding pillars: Cultural Heritage and Religion, Multicultural Diversity, Sustainability and Innovation, Education, Knowledge, and Student Well-being. Through systematic field recordings, acoustic analysis, and digital sound mapping, this study draws on acoustic ecology (R. Murray Schafer, 1994) and acoustic communication (Barry Truax, 2001) alongside soundscape ecology (Pijanowski et al., 2011). Findings reveal that religious identity achieves campus-wide expression through the Islamic call to prayer, while multicultural diversity emerges through multilingual soundscapes. However, Qatar's climate displaces social sounds indoors during warm periods. Sustainability values appear in biophonic environments, and educational spaces demonstrate strategic acoustic design. Heritage sites lack distinctive soundmarks despite visual preservation. Recommendations include integrating heritage soundscapes, implementing climate-responsive design, and incorporating soundscape planning into institutional protocols, demonstrating that acoustic analysis provides essential diagnostic insight into institutional identity communication. This research provides the first systematic acoustic documentation of a Gulf educational institution and establishes a replicable methodological framework.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Humanities and Social Science