To get an overview of a soundscape it's necessary to study the biophony (sounds that come from animals), geophony (geophysical signals that are the result of the movement of wind and water and earth) and anthrophony (sounds produced by human activity).

In addition to studying changes in biophony (sounds created by living things) and anthrophony (sounds created by human activities), soundscape ecology will also focus on the often overlooked category of sounds created by non-living sources like weather, wind and water, known as geophony.

In most environments today, soundscape signatures are comprised of two natural components, biophony and geophony, and a probable human component that includes the third, anthrophony. Biophony is the combined sound that living organisms produce in a given habitat. Geophony is comprised of geophysical sounds in the environment, such as the effect of wind in trees or grasses, thunder, water flow, earth movement, etc. Anthrophony is usually comprised of human-generated mechanical sounds, such as signals from aircraft, automobiles, generators, snowmobiles, jet-skis, radios, television sets, boom boxes, or automobile sound systems.