The characteristic types of sound commonly heard in a given period or location. 

For example, the late nineteenth-century American soundscape was largely limited to unamplified, live sounds, while the soundscape of the mid twenties included radio, electrically recorded disks, and public address, as well as live music, theater, and an increasing number of unmuffled motors. 

In much of the world, today soundscape is characterized by competition among multiple amplified sounds, along with attempts (like the Walkman and acoustic panels) to restore individual aural autonomy in sound micro-atmospheres. 

Rural, maritime, and Third World soundscape of course offer their own particularities, as do early morning and late evening soundscapes. 

Rick Altman: Sound Theory/Sound Practice page 252