How the World Listens: The Human Relationship with Sound across the World PDF
Preview How the World Listens: The Human Relationship with Sound across the World
How the World Listens How the World Listens explores our everyday and professional interactions with sound. The book aims to uncover the human relationship with sound across the world and to reveal practical ways in which a better understanding of listening can help us in our daily lives. This book asks how sound is perceived, expressed and interacted with in both remarkably similar and dramatically different ways across the world. Us- ing findings from a new scientific study, conducted exclusively for this book, we embark on a globe-trotting adventure across more than thirty countries, through exclusive interviews with more than fifty individuals from all walks of life, from acousticians and film composers to human resource managers and costumiers. How the World Listens is essential reading for anyone with an interest in human relationships with sound, including but not limited to sound design and music composition professionals, teachers and researchers. Tom A. Garner is a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Technologies at the University of Portsmouth. Originally from a background in popular music performance, Tom now works extensively in emergent approaches to audi- tory perception and extended reality (XR) technology. His previous books include Sonic Virtuality and Echoes of Other Worlds. Sound Design Series Editor: Michael Filimowicz The Sound Design series takes a comprehensive and multidisciplinary view of the field of sound design across linear, interactive, and embedded media and design contexts. Today’s sound designers might work in film and video, installation and performance, auditory displays and interface design, elec- troacoustic composition and software applications, and beyond. These forms and practices continuously cross-pollinate and produce an ever-changing ar- ray of technologies and techniques for audiences and users, which the series aims to represent and foster. Sound Inventions Selected Articles from Experimental Musical Instruments Edited by Bart Hopkin and Sudhu Tewari Doing Research in Sound Design Edited by Michael Filimowicz Sound for Moving Pictures The Four Sound Areas Neil Hillman Composing Audiovisually Perspectives on Audiovisual Practices and Relationships Louise Harris Designing Interactions for Music and Sound Edited by Michael Filimowicz How the World Listens The Human Relationship with Sound across the World Tom A. Garner For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Sound-Design/book-series/SDS How the World Listens The Human Relationship with Sound across the World Tom A. Garner Cover image: Eastnine Inc. / Getty Images First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Tom Garner The right of Tom Garner to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-032-01453-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-01566-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-17870-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003178705 Typeset in Bembo by codeMantra For James (cheers for the seagull) and Sophie. Dedicated to R.M. Schafer. Sorry for all the times I spelt your name wrong. Contents List of figures xi List of tables xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction 1 Origins and precedent 2 The habitus 3 Sociocultural theory 4 1 Sound and theory 7 Asking the right questions 7 A (quite) brief review of sound theory and perspectives 9 What is sound? 9 Sound as a soundwave 10 Sound as an object or an event (or both […] or neither) 13 Extending sound theory even further 16 Beyond the acoustic definition 16 What is listening and how is sound controlled? 17 Typologies of listening 19 The function of sound 21 Acoustic ecology 24 Chapter 1 summary: questions begetting questions 27 2 Sound and research 30 The madness, the methodology, and the method 30 The chain of study design and its four links 31 The research onion 32 Approaching ethnography 34 Qualitative v. quantitative 34 The function and values of ethnography (and when to use it) 36 Some key trends in ethnography 37 viii Contents Autoethnography 39 Is ethnography the right choice for studying sound? 40 Making sense of sound studies 40 Ethnomusicology, for a bit of history 40 Does sound studies actually study sound? 42 Approaches to sound studies 43 So, you want to do some interviews? 46 When and how to use an interview 47 The ethnographic interview 50 Analysing interview results 52 How can technology help? 54 The method for this book 56 Chapter 2 summary: so, how did it all go then? 58 3 Sound and meaning 63 Immediate reactions 64 Emergent themes 66 Objective aspects of sound 66 Meaning through definition 67 Perceptual responses 71 Immersion and persistence in sound 71 The listener 72 Functions and values 74 The affordances of sound 74 The value of sound 81 Affect and identity 83 Feeling and the emotional aspects of sound 83 Sound and spirituality 85 Meaning through work 86 Chapter 3 summary: the meaning of sound’s meaning 87 4 Sound and culture 89 Themes of culture and sound in research 90 How should we be defining ‘culture’? 90 Earlier research 90 More contemporary perspectives 91 Initial thoughts from the interviews 93 Short and sweet responses 93 Detailed, and a little more intimate 94 Emerging topics for further discussion 97 The sound of coffee 97 Synaesthesia 98 Music and culture 101 Contents ix Local, historical, and seasonal effects 104 Voice and language 107 Religion and ceremony 110 Chapter 4 summary: “not something I normally think about” 114 5 Sound and place 118 How does the world sound? 118 Conceptualising the soundscape 119 Continental soundscapes 120 The Big Ice 120 Application of soundscape studies 121 Some local perspectives 122 A question of sport 122 The quiet revolution of electric vehicles 124 Europe and the Russian Federation 125 Sonic boundaries and the sounds of city and countryside 128 Meteorological effects 128 Asia and Oceania 131 Defining the Eastern soundscape 131 Different beeps and louder dogs 134 Soundscapes and routine 136 Common features, topology, and long-term human influences 138 The Americas 141 Biodiversity and the effects of migration 143 The calls of commerce 145 Africa 147 Tradition and spirituality 148 Transportation 149 A brief epilogue: sound everywhere and nowhere 150 Chapter 5 summary: there’s a lot going on 152 6 Sound and everyday experience 157 How does sound function in your everyday life? 158 Background sound 158 Situational awareness 160 Challenges with sound 162 What is your relationship with sound within your home? 164 Outside sound sources and architectural effects 164 Sources of sound from inside the home 166 Sound, stress, anxiety, and relaxation in the home 168 Good and bad sounds in an everyday context 170
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