'Edison's Teeth: Touching Hearing' - Steven Connor
This essay explores the extraordinary story of how Thomas Edison (American Scientist and Inventor) used to listen to his gramophone by biting onto a wooden section on the side, allowing the vibrations to pass directly into his inner ear through his skull, which he personally believe allowed him to have a greater level of hearing than the average man.
"Thomas Edison would chomp on the wood of a gramophone in order to hear faint overtones"
Similarly it is rumoured that "Dead Beethoven gripped a stick between his teeth to convey sounds of the piano to him"
The essay also explores the ways in which the senses are combined and utilised simultaneously to allow greater perception of surroundings, conversations, people etc.
"Perhaps because of the imperfect nature of hearing in humans, hearing tends to ask questions that get answered by the evidence of the eyes"
Which prompts thoughts as to what would happen if we were forced to rely on individual senses (such as in the case of blind/deaf people) and the ways in which this is overcome by people who are placed within this position. (Further research point!!)
This essay was sourced from the book:
'Hearing Culture; essays on sound, listening and modernity' - Veit Erlman, Berg Publishers 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment