After thorough thinking, I have decided that my topic for the essay and theme around which I will evolve, will be ” Living with sound and how it affects our body and mind in everyday life”. What is the sound? What is the difference between “noise” and “silence”?How sound can affect our body and mind in negative and positive ways? Those are some of the questions I am intending of covering in my essay. I am planning on dividing my work into 5 sections besides INTRO AND SUMMARY:
1 SECTION: will expand on the existential meaning of sound and its influence on our body, which will be developed more in sections 2 and 3
2 SECTION: will develop the topic of the physical influence on our body and brain
3 SECTION: will develop the topic of the mental influence on our mind
4 SECTION: will focus solely on the negative impact sound and specifically “noise” have on our body and mind
5 SECTION: will focus solely on the positive “healing” impact sound and specifically natural sounds have on the human body and mind
Each section is going to be supported by work devoted to its section and questions it expands upon. I want to develop the topic of sound step by step. Starting from the existential meaning behind the sound. Followed by the effects it has on a physical and mental level. Secondly separate and expand on negative and positive effects on our body and mind. Finishing with a summary of all of the materials I have gathered with my personal opinion on the topic ” Living with sound and how it affects our body and mind”
I want my sound piece to allude directly to my essay’s topic, which is “Living with sound: how sound affects our body and mind in daily life.” My initial idea for the sound project would consist of, quite directly, sound recordings out of everyday life sounds, which I captured during activities such as traveling to my work/ university, walking on the street, and having a stroll in the park. I want to focus on sounds we might not really pay attention to for example sounds inside a tube, car honks, the sound of turning the ventilator on, etc. On top of the recordings, I want to use the sound of me counting up to 100 and them overlapping each other. As outside sounds happen without our contribution simultaneously, it is very easy to just overlook them. Most of the time, we don’t realize how strong the impact sounds can have on our body and mind. I want to underline the strong bond between what happens outside and inside the human body. Recordings of sounds that are present in everyday life situations will represent what is out of our control. Me counting up to 100 will be a representation of what is in our control. For the topic of my sound piece, I have chosen “perception of sound in particular sitiations in daily life”. For the recorder, I need something small and handy for crowdy spaces or places I would feel uncomfortable o bring something very big and difficult to carry. As well as a recorder with omnidirectional polar pattern that will catch sound all around it, making it feels like the sound is everywhere and floating through it. I am planning on using the h4n recorder, h5 zoom recorder, or Roland Binaural Stereo Microphone, I have never used this one and if I am not satisfied with the outcome I can always use one of the previously mentioned, which never failed me. On the other hand, in recordings of me counting, I want to be clear without background noises so they don’t clash with recordings of everyday life sounds. I am thinking about using something like Audio Technica 2035 Microphone in a space like a recording studio at LCC. As to locations, nothing is certain as I might be drowned to going somewhere I didn’t plan or think of something on the spot. However for the moment, I am thinking about: Greenwich Park, a path for passers-by by the Thames, Tate Modern Museum, Tottenham Court Road Station(next to my workplace), the library, grocery shop.
I want to divide my piece into 2 parts. First one consisting of “interruptive” sounds such as oncoming train, cars honking and second one containing “healing sounds like birds singing, sound of wind.
“Sound Art and the Sonic Unconscious” article written by Christoph Cox
Christoph Cox in his article argues that sound art plays a crucial role in revealing its nature and conception of sound as a continuous, and anonymous process to which human emotions contributes. He also expands on Wilhelm Leibniz’s conception of the perceptual unconscious. Starting with the explanation of the term “sound arts” and bringing the opinions of artists, curators, and critics such as Max Neuhaus who question the nature and viability of the practice. Cox shares some light on Leibniz’s theory by proposing that this sonic flux is composed of two dimensions: a virtual dimension that he terms ‘noise’ and an actual dimension that consists of contractions of this virtual continuum: for example, music and speech. In his opinion noise might be the background of human beings, as it never ceases; it is limitless, continuous, unending, and unchanging. On the other hand, contradicts the common opinion as if noise is something derivative, which disturbs, or interrupts an initial state of calm. “If we accept Leibniz’s argument, we hear each of these sound waves – past and present – but we hear them confusedly. Indeed, like the man who lives near a watermill, this sound remains background to us and constitutes what we call ‘silence’. Only the singularity of a signal – speech or music, for example – stands out against this background, contracts it, and renders sound clear and noticeable.” To sum up, the 20th century was a period in the history of sonic experimentation and the liberation of sound as part of everything that surrounds us like silence, ambiance, and not only in terms of so-called music.
2. “Psychophysiology and psychoacoustics of music: Perception of complex sound in normal subjects and psychiatric patients” article created by Annals of General Hospital Psychiatry
In everyday life situations, humans receive complex sounds which contribute to the way one perceives reality. Studies show an interconnection between the physics and psychology of hearing. Psychics of simple sounds are divided into frequency, amplitude, and phase. On the other hand, psychoacoustics has its own distinct elements of pitch, intensity, and timbre. Everyday sounds such as sea waves, birds singing, and blowing of the wind have the ability to interact with the feelings and moods of human beings. Music is the human effort to express emotions. In order to understand music perception and the way it influences human beings, different studies have been carried out involving the types of music, the emotional experience, psychosomatic and physiological changes, and psychoacoustical characteristics of music. Studies show increased heart rates as a result of stimulating music and decreased heart rates associated with sedative music. Especially Techno-music seems to produce a significant increase in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and stress-related hormones. 50 normal-hearing people with no special interest in music were studied in order to examine emotional experience due to music exposure. Results show differences in emotional experience between women and men, with women experiencing more tension in music, and between different age groups, with older people being more attracted to music than younger ones. What’s more, studies proved that psychiatric patients experience music in a different way according to their sickness. Schizophrenic and obsessive-compulsive patients are more attracted to music, whereas depressive and anxiety neurotics are less sensitive to sound. In conclusion, simpler and shorter sounds affect human being more with differences in perception according to specific sicknesses among psychiatric patients.
3. “How does the brain interpret sound?” article on hear-it.org
The tiny hair cells in the inner ear send electrical signals to the auditory nerve which is connected to the auditory center of the brain, which translates impulses from the ear into sounds that we know and understand. However, the brain loses the ability to process sound. Another study carried out by the University of Colorado Boulder found that the brain adjusts to hearing loss, even if the issue is only mild. Researchers used scanners to study the brain of people with hearing issuesand discovered that shortly after they began to lose their hearing, their other senses began to play a more prominent role. What’s more, the brain eliminates unnecessary sounds in the background, as well as turns up the volume of our own speech, and plays a significant role in hearing sounds that come from inside your body, rather than from an outside source described as ringing in the ears. A research team has been able to eliminate tinnitus in a group of rats by stimulating a nerve in the neck and playing a variety of sound tones over a period of time. In summary, it is the brain that receives impulses and translates them into sounds we know. Therefore plays a crucial role in the way everyday sounds affect us and our body.
4. Book called “Ocean of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication” written by David Toop
Toop outlines his intentions by noting what his work is not, which is “a book about categories of music –ambient, electronic, environmental or any of those other separations which lay claim to the creation of order and sense but actually serve business interests.” David Toop starts off his book with Debussy in 1889, which he calls “a peeling open of systems to make space for stimuli, new ideas, new influences, from a rapidly changing environment. ” Followed by him unwrapping the history and progress of music in the 20th century. Toop traces the pervasiveness of minimalism – its various symptoms and how silence is present in every aspect of our lives.” Furthermore, he unpacks the myriad of influences that seeped into 21st-century ambient music. From Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence to Balinese gamelan and Javanese pop via Hong Kong atmospherics, unfold the layers through Toop’s extract below. David Toop concludes that the world has become an “ocean of sound” and so music has developed into something immersive with listeners floating in that ocean, musicians becoming virtual travelers and creators of sonic theatre.
On week 17 we have started new module called: collaborating, which aim is, quite directly working in groups with students from BA Immersive Arts, to create together VR experience with a soundtrack. I was assigned to group 5 alongside with Rose, Dean, Harley and James, as well as Miranda and Doris from BA IMMIR.
During our first group meeting we have decided on Game concept, which is “Space crash landing”.( to be continued ….)
Goals for next week:
Miranda and Doris from BA IMMIR to work on storyboard for introductory movie sequence before entering VR, which is potential for movie score to be paired with. First scene, navigating from the spaceship to the tunnels. Desert planet, rocks, arid…. Possible interactions: walking around, picking up/ throwing pipe/ rocks, going back onboard spaceship, tapping space helmet, moonjumps etc.
Foley sounds of footsteps, arid/ barren landscape, rocks; sound of flying spaceship; sound of spaceship electrical/ machine malfunctioning; spaceship crash/ impact/ explosion; touching the spaceship; touching the ground, tapping space helmet, picking up a pipe; touching button; picking up rock; spaceship door opening etc
Lately, I am very interested in the cohesion between sound arts and the human body. In my essay for Contemporary Issues in Sound Arts module, I would like to expand on the way sound influence speech, listening, and human brain activity. I was always fascinated by how the human brain works and the depths we didn’t discover yet, especially in the context of multi-personal disorders. When one of the people created by our brain can speak fluently in a language we have never learned or generate personalities and characters we have never had, which is basically giving life to a completely new person inside our body. Nevertheless, I have never thought about combining the source of my interest with the field of my studies. Therefore I have decided to dedicate the current essay topic to dissolve around those two specifications. I have gathered a couple of essay ideas that I would like to choose from as they reflect perfectly on my main source of inspiration for this unit. A couple of the ideas for my topic are as follows: How is the relationship between the artist and their persona important in the contemporary world of sound and technology?, Exploring the different ways in which people listen and why?, Living with sound: how are sounds interpreted in the usage of particular situations of everyday life?
