p.

93

LISTENIG – HEARING - 38

listening begins with the survival value implicit in the ability to interpret
information about the environment and one's interaction with it, based
on the detail contained within those physical vibrations.

First, we should recall that whereas hearing can be regarded as a

somewhat passive ability that seems to work with or without conscious
effort, listening implies an active role involving differing levels of
attention. The level of attention may be casual and distracted (μπορεί να
είναι περιστασιακό και αποσπασματικό), or in a state of readiness, and
its scope may be global (a general "scan" of the entire environment) or
focussed on a particular source to the exclusion of other sounds.

However, in each case, listening can be consciously controlled. It can

also produce categories of perceptual immediacy such as "background"
and "foreground" which do not necessarily correspond to physical
distance; that is, a distant sound may seem more prominent in an
environment than a closer one.
«Η πληροφορία είναι προβλέψιμη, , σύμφωνα με την προηγούμενη εμπειρία
(επαναληπτικόητα)»

Por lo tanto, se requiere una cierta cantidad de selección de la información entrante para
reducir la cantidad de datos a lo que puede ser significativo, por ejemplo, por referencia a
la memoria de la experiencia pasada. From a communicational point of view, this type of
screening is best characterized by what Bateson calls "the difference that makes a
difference". It is at this point that the distinction between signal processing and
information processing becomes apparent. Signal processing may involve analysis that
yields data about certain parameters of the sound, but information is created and
communication takes place only through the cognitive ability to distinguish what is
significant about the results of that analysis.

Hearing is well documented as a sensitivity to physical vibration within

certain ranges of frequencies and intensities.
15 minute s is required to bring hearing to its most sensitive state,

we will use
the term "soundscape" to put the emphasis on how that environment is understood by
those living within it—the people who are in fact creating it.
The individual listener within a soundscape is not engaged in a passive type of energy
reception, but rather is part of a dynamic system of information
exchange.

the physical environment "colors" all sound waves passing through it until the sound
reflects the current state of the environment

The wisdom of an "acoustic ecology" is to integrate the

listener within the soundscape. Just as we are not separate from nature, we
are not isolated from the soundscape "out there."
12 σελ.
Truax 1996 / p.7

listening is understood as the primary acoustic interface between the individual and
the environment. However, the flow of communication goes both ways since the
listener is also a sound- maker, and therefore it is the entire system of the listener plus
environment which constitutes the "soundscape."

The individual listener within a soundscape is not engaged in a passive type of energy
reception, but rather is part of a dynamic system of information exchange.