Sound as daily medicine

Most of us hear music at least daily, but we might not pay much attention to the fact of constant sound – what those mean to us, what they feel like, what’s interesting or not interesting about them, what they reveal beyond their aural qualities, and how they affect us.

Right now, there’s someone working on the building I’m in, and I can hear the jackhammer. What are they doing, and how might that help me? Will it improve the space I’m in? Will it close some path that I normally walk through the building? Will it create residue that might be harmful to breathe? How will this sound change things?

These questions can be answered through analysis and research, and that process began with the sound. What other scenarios can this be applied to? Doctors talk about ‘listening to our bodies’ to notice when they might be ‘complaining.’ Obviously, this is not actually a sound, but a ‘listening process’ nonetheless. Evelyn Glennie gave a presentation at a TED conference that discussed sound as medicine – that through listening, we can create questions whose answers will help us, as described above. It’s a long video, but worth watching if you have the time: