After being founded in July this year the European Sound Studies Association ESSA just issued a Call for Papers for its first international conference, taking place in Berlin between October 4-6 in 2013: Functional Sounds: Auditory Culture & Sound Concepts in Everyday Life will be its focus as it is also the main conference of the DFG-funded research project Functional Sounds at the Sound Studies Lab.

The conference intends to provide six different streams for all the various aspects and hearing perspectives towards the functionality and dysfunctionality in auditory cultures today and in the past ranging from Soundscapes of the Urban Future over Cultural Politics & Sonic Experience, Pop & Sound, Methodologies of Sound in the Humanities and Sonic Artistic Practices & Research up to Sound Design Practices.

The programme committee that selects the papers and presentations consists of: Michael Bull (UK), Marcel Cobussen (NL), Julian Henriques (UK), Erik Granly Jensen (DK), Anahid Kassabian (UK/US), Jacob Kreutzfeldt (DK), Morten Michelsen (DK), Sylvia Mieszkowski (FR/DE), Carla Müller-Schulzke (DE), Jens Gerrit Papenburg (DE), Max Schneider (DE), Holger Schulze (DE), Alexandra Supper (NL/AT), Heikki Uimonen (FIN).

Selected papers will be published in special issues of two of the most relevant journals in the field of sound studies: SoundEffects (DK) and the Journal of Sonic Studies (NL).

You can find the Call for Paper and the official submission form on the website of the ESSA.