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The
listening process includes the search for meaningful information
in the incoming stream of data provided by the auditory system.
The basic unit of information can be traced to the perception of
a “difference”, a comparison that discovers change between
the present state of the environment and previous states. Uniformity
in a sound or soundscape desensitizes listening by its continuous
sameness.
Environmental noise is not only meaningless in itself to the listener,
but it also obscures the information of other sounds. Whether an
environmental sound has meaning or is just noise depends entirely
on its context and how it is understood.
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Contemporary music often models the characteristics of environmental
sound organization, such as foreground, background, ambience, texture,
and spatiality, with results that often reflect the contemporary
soundscape, including even its negative aspects.
We hear environments. Think of movie soundtracks or those moments
when we are reminded of a soundtrack. We arrive somewhere new, familiar,
or unfamiliar, and we immediately identify with a place by its aural
qualities. For example, a ƒ
shopping mall, stepping out of a cab when arriving in New York,
or turning the car off to set up camp in the woods. We interpret
our surroundings by sound. Imagine how powerful these aural environments
might be for a blind person?
Structure is a barometer of meaning in sound.
Structure
Sound >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Meaning
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