The distinctive sounds of seaside amusement arcades

Dr Martha Lineham is a senior lecturer at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University. She has recently completed a PhD on seaside amusement arcades.

She argues that arcades are much more than run-down money-spinners and the focus of gambling and deviant behaviour. Instead, she argues that they are unique sensory environments that constitute a very distinctive element of the seaside experience.

In her recent paper, Acoustic convergences in British seaside amusement arcades, Martha explores the unique soundscapes of amusement arcades using a novel artist-ethnography mixed methodology.

She argues that arcades represent places developed during the industrial era which are now located in a post-industrial society.

They 'connect visitors to the analogue sounds, rhythms and spaces of work and leisure from a bygone era' and, consequently, represent a particular type of ‘in-between’ site at the seaside.

The paper is open-access and free to download.