PLACES AND THEIR VOICES: WHAT BECOMES PERCEPTIBLE THROUGH THE AUDIBLE

Abstract

Sounds are part of the most natural sensory experience of the environment and the world around us. The article explores the modes of corporeal hearing and phonetic understanding of the world. Numerous (urban) places have their own characteristic soundscape. A specific dimension of movement is expressed in it. Sounds are not only in motion, they are movement. Thus, they are in a constant process of changing their faces. But sounds do not only touch upon a physical-acoustic understanding, they equally touch sensations and feelings, they feed atmospheres and communicate meanings. However, they are not "read" semiotically, but experienced holistically through bodily communication. The conscious ability to hear presupposes listening carefully (Hin-Hören). Even if the tonal experience is incommensurable with its literal explication, the practice of autopsying descriptions of situations is nevertheless a prerequisite for a sharpened self- and world-awareness.