The Universal Sense
How Hearing Shapes the Mind
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Every day, we are beset by millions of sounds-ambient ones like the rumble of the train and the hum of air conditioner, as well as more pronounced sounds, such as human speech, music, and sirens. How do we know which sounds should startle us, which should engage us, and which should turn us off?
Why do we often fall asleep on train rides or in the car? Is there really a musical note that can make you sick to your stomach? Why do city folks have trouble sleeping in the country, and vice versa?In this fascinating exploration, research psychologist and sound engineer Seth Horowitz shows how our sense of hearing manipulates the way we think, consume, sleep, and feel.
Starting with the basics of the biology, Horowitz explains why we hear what we hear, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound: into music, commercial jingles, car horns, and modern inventions like cochlear implants, ultrasound scans, and the mosquito ringtone. Combining the best parts of This is Your Brain on Music and The Emotional Brain, this book gives new insight into what really makes us tick.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brown University neuroscientist Horowitz has pulled off an unusual feat. His science book, about the way hearing shapes the "evolution, development, and day-to-day function of the mind," can be genuinely poetic. It is also laced with humor. Horowitz says he attempted less a text than a venue for imparting "wonder." He succeeds, unearthing one little-known gem after another. There are no deaf vertebrates, signaling hearing's importance. Everywhere there is energy, there is sound: solar winds "howl"; black holes thrum in B-flat. Human hearing is "faster-than-thought," can capture "a wide range of tones and timbres that visual color cannot hope to match," and more "flexibility" than taste and smell. All this lets sound "drive a fantastic range of subconscious elements in the living organism." Horowitz beautifully describes how the evolution of fervently communicating life forms changed the sounds of early earth "from incidental noise to songs." He explains how hearing rewires our brains into adulthood, and notes that hearing can prompt our neurons to release pleasurable oxytocin when exposed to musical frequencies, yet sicken us at other frequencies (inner-city noise has been linked to heart problems). The ability to hear is still, by and large, a mystery. This is an often eloquent introduction to what is known.
