The Importance of Hearing
If you were not now reading this text, but instead were listening to me speak, I would ask you now to close your eyes and listen. I would ask you with your eyes closed to pay attention to everything you are hearing. I would stop speaking so that you could devote all of your attention ...
READ MORE →
Nature of Sound
Hearing a sound gives us a great deal of information about the source of the sound. We can recognize the material involved in generating a sound. The sound produced by tapping on glass, on metal, on wood, on paper, and on many other materials allows us to determine the material, even when we cannot ...
READ MORE →
Physiology of Hearing
The pressure pulses that are responsible for the sensation of sound interact with the ear to produce those sensations. Pressure pulses travel through the air and into the ear canal. At the inner end of the canal, the pulses strike the ear drum. The pulses cause the drum to move in and out. The motions ...
READ MORE →
Speech
Speech is a human activity by which thoughts and feelings are communicated through sound. Speech communication has two main components, the production of sound and the perception of sound. The relationship between speech production and speech perception is intricate. In the process of learning to speak a language, we simultaneously learn how to understand it ...
READ MORE →
Music
Music is an art that presents itself over a period of time. In this it is unlike sculpture and painting, which are complete at one time and unchanging. Music is more like theater and cinema and dance, which also develop over a period of time. In fact, these time-dependent arts frequently involve music. What characterizes ...
READ MORE →