Are Sounds Sound? For an Enthusiastic Study of Sound Studies

The ephemeral nature of sounds makes it difficult to think about sound as a foundation for our experience, for our being in a situation. This essay argues that sound needs to be explored and understood as crucial precisely because it exceeds the visual and its confining framework of point of view, enriching the manner in which we are anchored in the actuality of our situation in the world. Sound Studies points the way to understanding the fundamental nature of sound, and our essay pursues insights from the field to reflect on notions such as silence, ambient noise, voice, and recording in John Cage, Kant, Dumas’s Count of Monte-Cristo, and Dziga Vertov’s theory of cinematic sound.