The art of noise: Comment on The sound of silence

Abstract

This article explores a possible cultural psychology of sounds, or rather, constitutes a call for an inclusion of sounds as part of our analysis of people’s daily experience. The reflection is based on social sciences as well as on artists’ work on the limits of sounds. The argument is, first, that soundscapes are as much constitutive of our experience as the spatial and material components of our lived spaces. Second, sound can be considered as specific semiotic system; as such, a cultural psychology has to examine experienced sounds, as one modality of social meaning-making and personal sense-making. Third, if sounds are organized as semiotic systems, then a developmental approach can be defined. Fourth, empirical implications are highlighted; the proposal here is to combine people’s perspectives on perceived sounds, the semiotic resources on which they draw to make sense of them, the location of these sounds in actual sociocultural settings and the relations between these various perspectives.