Multi-eared Listening: Pathways to Equitable Partnerships in a Transdisciplinary Ecoacoustics

Alice Eldridge , Leah Barclay, Grant Smith, Jo Geddes, Joycelyn Longdon, Monica Chuji, Paola Moscoso, Pueblo Ancestral Kichwa Kawsak Sacha, Rustam Rustam, Shorna Allred, Walker dePuy, Wendy M. Erb

Multi-Eared Listening is a call to integrate Indigenous, local, and Western scientific knowledges in a transdisciplinary ecoacoustic research. Following the Mi’kmaw principle of Two-Eyed Seeing, Multi-Eared Listening, points to the importance of braiding epistemologies in ecoacoustic research and conservation. Case studies from Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, Australia, and transnational sound art initiatives demonstrate how collaborative, community-led projects can bridge ecological and cultural dimensions of environmental sound for ecological and cultural conservation. These examples reveal soundscapes as both ecological indicators and vital expressions of cultural identity, reciprocity, and territorial belonging. We argue that developing equitable partnerships in ecoacoustics is not only an ethical imperative but also essential for producing more inclusive, effective conservation outcomes. By fostering mutual respect, shared authorship, and epistemological parity, Multi-Eared Listening proposes a new paradigm for ecoacoustics—one that aligns biodiversity monitoring with biocultural justice, strengthens Indigenous sovereignty, and reimagines conservation as a relational, restorative, and plural act of listening.