Sound's good! An adventurer hunts neglected sonic gems

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Video: Gunshot produces world's longest echo




Whether it's rustling leaves or city sirens, we badly need to reconnect with the aural world, according to Sonic Wonderland by Trevor Cox


GAZING on lush green vistas or soaring mountain-scapes may stir the soul, but what about the effects of another, neglected, sense? Are sounds, such as the complex dawn songs of myriad birds or the hissing of a Siberian lake as it thaws, really as important as the vision we have privileged for so long?


In Sonic Wonderland, Trevor Cox, an academic working in acoustic engineering, makes that case, asking us to open our ears. "Our obsession with sight has led us to produce loads of bizarre and beautiful places, but surprisingly few recordings of wonderful sounds."


Cox makes the case for hearing as the neglected underdog of the senses by taking us on an eclectic journey, starting in a Victorian sewer in London. Until that moment, he had spent decades trying to remove unwanted noises from theatre halls, classrooms and recording studios – though "distortions can sometimes be wonderful". But this underground "sonic gem" gave him an epiphany and instead he set off to find the world's sonic treasures.


Cox takes us with him, as he sets out, armed often with a balloon and pin, and more conventional sound equipment. He has done significant legwork. Cox sings in massive, abandoned oil tanks carved deep into a Scottish hillside, he climbs "burping sand dunes" in California's Mojave desert, and even documents the sound of silence with a stay in a Buddhist retreat and a visit to a concert hall to hear John Cage's note-free, largely silent composition, 4'33.


Cox also revisits our sonic past, revealing how our ancestors may have harnessed acoustics. Some research suggests cave art may decorate walls of caverns where specific sound effects occur. For example, ghostly figures painted by Native Americans adorn sites where echoes are strongest.


Importantly, this book makes you think. We may be aware of how human noise can prompt birds to alter their song, or how it interferes with long-distance whale communication, but there is much more to our relationship with sound and the environment.


As Cox notes, sometimes the sounds we cherish may not have aesthetic appeal but remind us of places, like a police siren in New York, or the famous "Mind the gap" announcement on the London Underground.


There is lots to pique our interest in this lively book by an adept science communicator. Given his academic background, the book is also detailed and thorough, occasionally to a fault since it can verge on acoustic trainspotting. Cox's main message is clear, though: we can all learn to open our ears. Only then will we truly appreciate the richness of everyday sounds.


This article appeared in print under the headline "Sound's good"


Shaoni Bhattacharya is a consultant for New Scientist


Issue 2954 of New Scientist magazine


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