Table Of ContentHow 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
