A re-cap of one the segments on This American Life this weekend. I think Lester is on to something:

<6> But it is Act Two, and Toby Lester's attempt to map the ambient sounds in his world, that I find the most interesting. He asks the listener to become more aware of the surrounding soundscape, or sonic environment. Lester uses high-fidelity listening in his low-fidelity work and home environments. Since we do not have "ear-lids," the brain normally does not process all the auditory information it receives. If it did we would be in a state of complete sensory overload. On the other hand, the brain has learned to recognize important cue sounds which help us to survive. For example, if you are outdoors at night, where there could easily be an ambient noise level of about 50 dB(A), and a twig snaps behind you, your brain becomes keenly aware of this sonic change. In ages past, this protective mechanism literally prevented people from being eaten by other animals.

<7> As Lester aptly notes, the majority of people today live within an urban soundscape of buzzing, whirring, and steadily droning tones. We learn to tune out the low-fidelity part of the urban environment because our brain employs a self-defense mechanism: subconsciously it sifts through the low-fidelity ambient noise for any high-fidelity changes, and alerts us to the important differences we need to hear.

<8> As a musician, educator, and researcher, I believe Lester is correct in recognizing that boredom is pervasive in many listeners. Experience tells me that the continual stream of steady noise in our modern soundscape is stultifying our aural acuity and greatly reducing enjoyment of the pleasanter aspects of the soundscape our ears and brain have in fact learned to tune out when there is too much input. We now need to relearn how to listen.

<9> Not only is the incessant nature of the sounds around us desensitizing our brains and ears to the richness of our soundscapes, but the volume is also much higher than many previous generations have had to endure. It is interesting to note that the average nightclub DJ keeps a sound system at about 120 dB(A). In the USA the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a limit of 100 dB(A) for two hours per day, with the duration to be halved for each five-decibel increase. If these limits are not respected permanent hearing loss will occur. As individuals and as a society we are harming our own senses. Regrettably attempts to enforce these codes still meet with the bluff response that noise can be toughed out.

<10> Lester hears what we all hear; yet he has become hyper-aware of his own soundscape. He hears the consonance and dissonance created by everyday objects such as his heating unit and computer at work, and his refrigerator and microwave oven at home. Certainly as I write this piece I have noticed my computer to be sounding an F and my aquarium filter to be bubbling away at about an F an octave apart. Octave-unisons are considered easy and pleasant listening.

<11> I can relate to Lester's search for sonic consonance. In my own research I have made observations of natural resonance, acoustics, and echoes in the United States particularly in the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, Devil's Tower, Mount Pattulo, and various places in Alaska as well as in Canada and Europe. Using the sonic properties of the alphorn, I have developed a hypersensitivity to my soundscapes in mapping echoes throughout the world. I have found that some geographic locations possess what I call "natural pitch-resonance properties." My theory posits that a given air-filled space, having been set in oscillation by an oscillating body, creates a resultant resonance. In other words, a geographic location has an indigenous natural pitch which resonates in that location. On a small scale, this is analogous to finding the strongest fundamental frequency while singing in a small, enclosed space such as a bathroom.

<12> One could therefore take Lester's observations a step further and say that not only can the sounds within a given space be harmonized but the space itself can also be harmonized and literally made in tune. Or with larger outdoor spaces the sounds can be made to be in tune with the space. As Lester strongly points out, from simple lack of awareness we are deadening our senses by becoming tuned out. We do not realize we are closing off our minds to new ways of thinking and feeling, and of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. When we cut ourselves off from our senses we are actually denaturing ourselves, and severing from ourselves part of what it is to be human.