Guest researcher lecture: Ultrasound: Unheard worlds

Abstract

We cannot escape the human-centeredness of our relationship to the world; it is not language we are trapped in but our sensing bodies. A case in point is hearing. The definitions of sound are bounded by what we humans can sense, and any vibrations in air, or another elastic medium, below and above our hearing thresholds are not defined as sound and so, quite literally, do not enter our consciousness.

This lecture focuses on ultrasound, pressure waves in a medium such as air or water above approximately 20kHz. I first demonstrate how the standard definitions of sound betray a human-centred, corporeal relationship to the world and have shaped our understanding of what that world is. I then demonstrate how this anthropocentricity combined with technology paves the way to an increased anthropogenic ultrasound production. Finally, I demonstrate how the anthropocentricity of our definitions of sound deafens us to other worlds and to the increasing problem of human-produced ultrasound in these worlds’ ecologies.

All are welcome! Cofee and cake will be served. 

No registration is required!

 Read an interview with Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard