Welcome, Barry.
In this forum, you are "preachin' to the choir" on the subject of an
acoustic geography of sound. Some of our members, perhaps most
notably Bernie Krause, have been working for 20? 30? years and more to
improve our understanding of the characteristic soundscape of a
natural environment, and the potential for consequences when that
soundscape is altered. I'm sure you know of Bernie's pioneering work
with the National Park Service to help protect the auditory
environment in the parks.
Thanks for mentioning the concept of a "cultural earcon." If I
remember correctly, the notion of an "earcon" arose as a means to talk
about the auditory component of human-computer interaction. For
example, the Trash Can icon symbolizes in a visual way that files
placed here will be destroyed. The "paper crunching" sound that
occurs when a file is placed on the Trash Can icon is an "earcon" that
reinforces the destructive potential of the Trash.
I think a "cultural earcon" must be a sound that people come to
associate with some state or condition through exposure to the sound.
Examples might be the high-low sound that the sirens on European
emergency vehicles make. To a European, the sound has come to mean
"alert - make way." To a visitor from another part of the world, the
sound would convey the "alert" message, but perhaps not the "make way"
component, a cultural difference. Please correct me if your use of
the term "cultural earcon" is different.
A "cultural earcon" that carries a more emotional message is the
"duh-duh -- duh-duh" sound accompanying the approach of the shark in
the movie, "Jaws." To millions, this sound has come to elicit a sense
of fearful foreboding. The sound is now mimiced by people in any
potentially frightening situation, even when it has nothing to do with
water or sharks. To people who haven't seen the movie (there must be
a few somewhere), this meaning is not available.
I think I would take issue with your statement that "only now can we
capture" the sounds of a natural environment, in the way that a cave
painting might capture some elements of one's visual experience. I'd
offer than pre-verbal language probably mimiced natural sounds to
convey meaning, and that the chants of some present-day indigenous
peoples includes natural sounds and rhythms. Our recording equipment
can reproduce sounds more accurately than in the past, but that
doesn't mean that before now there was no way to capture and utilize
natural sounds as auditory symbols, and to transmit those "earcons" to
others.
Quite a high percentage of messages here deal with the nuts and bolts
of audio field recording (I plead guilty as charged.) Don't let that
discourage you from posting on the subjects you care about. Here
you'll find a very broad spectrum of experience from a world-wide
group of researchers and field recording enthusiasts.
--oryoki
ps. You told us about your life in academia and your book-writing to
help introduce yourself, right? Just checking.
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