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APPENDIX B - GLOSSARY OF TRANSLATED TERMS
This glossary provides a basic
description and explanation of some of the
concepts introduced in France and used in the
current work. A thematic classification has been
adopted to facilitate the understanding of the
relation between each term (1).
The three dimensions of the sonic identity
(C-V-S)
The relationship between a listener and a
particular sound environment can be understood,
according to Amphoux (1991, 1993a, 1993b) in
terms in three types of representation and
experience corresponding to Peirce’s three types
of symbols:
- The known dimension (le connu, or C) describes
a symbolic representation in which particular
environments are known by both inhabitants and
foreign listeners, based on the fact that they
“conventionally represent a city” (Amphoux,
1993a, p. 16; my translation). Here, a sound or
an ambience comes to represent the whole city,
and is understood as such.
- The lived dimension (le vécu, or V) expresses
a more intimate relation that is situated at the
level of the district, the neighbourhood. Its
semiotic equivalent is the index, partly
arbitrary but shaped and reinforced by one’s
individual experience.
- The sense dimension (le sensible, or S)
corresponds to a universal and tautological
relationship in which the sound becomes the icon
of the location from which it originates. The
soundscapes of markets, malls or cafés, for
instance, do not necessarily represent specific
locations or situations but rather become icons
of urbanity.
The three types of listening to the world
(E-M-P)
Amphoux (1991, 1993a) has established a
tripartite model to describe the possible ways
one can listen to the sound environment. His
model is concerned with the simultaneous role of
memory, perception and interpretation in one’s
understanding of the soundscape. The three main
types of listening can then be subdivided to
produce a series of qualitative criteria to
express “certain qualities concerning the
context of sounds” (Hellström, 2003, p. 158).
- The environmental listening (l’écoute
environnementale, or E) refers to an attitude in
which the listener listens objectively, a
certain distance from the sounds heard. The
sounds are described and represented as external
objects, and the attitude leads to the
establishment of criteria of quality.
- The milieu listening (l’écoute médiale, or M)
concerns the sonic comfort of an environment,
and therefore implies a contextual experience of
the soundscape rather than a distant evaluation.
The listener becomes involved in his or her own
expression of the soundscape, and this produces
criteria of qualification which “do not account
for the environmental morphology, but rather
present a prescriptive discourse on what should
be or what should not be a sonic milieu”
(Amphoux, 1993a, p. 37; my translation).
- The landscape listening (l’écoute paysagère,
or P) corresponds the contemplative perception
of a sound environment. Here, what matters is
the “relation between the form and the content
of a discourse, when what is described is
reflected in the actual modalities of
description” [emphasis his] (Amphoux, 1993a, p.
35; my translation). This type of listening
results in criteria of qualitativeness.
Qualitative criteria
Amphoux’s numerous qualitative criteria
(critères qualitatifs) result from his initial
classification of the type of listening to the
world. It provides a new type of soundscape
vocabulary, introduced to describe the various
criteria that can be used when analysing a
particular environment and the way it is heard
and understood by inhabitants. Three main types
of criteria can be used, each of which is
subdivided in more specific categories:
- Criteria of quality (critères de qualité)
correspond to an environmental listening and
produce objective qualities related to the
organisation of the soundscape; the criteria are
strictly descriptive, and frame the sound
environment as a controllable reality.
- Criteria of qualification (critères de
qualification), on the other hand, are the
result of a milieu listening and correspond to
values and judgements about what a soundscape
should or should not be; these criteria refer to
the sonic comfort of a situation in which the
listener is directly involved, they are
intimately linked to one’s everyday experience
and subjective perception.
- Criteria of qualitativity (critères de
qualitativité) refer to the “ensemble of
phenomena which allow a sensitive, aesthetic and
‘altered’ appreciation of the sonic world”
(Amphoux, 1993a, p. 38; my translation). Again,
these criteria are based on an analysis of the
“described and the description” (ibid.) in a way
that emphasizes the evocative and aesthetic
qualities of an environment.
Sound Effect
The sound effect (effet sonore), used at CRESSON
since the beginning of the 80s, can be described
as “a meeting point, an interaction and a
correspondence between the measurable objective
environment, the soundscape of a cultural
community and the inner space of any individual”
(Augoyard, 1999, p. 123). By considering a
particular sonic situation in its inherent
complexity, the sound effect allows one to move
from one discipline to another and draw
connections between them.
The sound effect describes any aural experience
as a result of specific physical conditions
(nature of the sound source, acoustics,
morphology of the environment, etc.), social and
cultural contexts and a subjective perceptive
mechanism. Therefore, every major effect can be
traced and discussed in various disciplines
ranging from psychology to architecture and
urbanism. Some of the important sound effects
are summarized below, to provide the reader with
an overview of the theoretical and practical
usefulness of the concept (2).
- Anamnesis (anamnèse): Effect characterising
the triggering, most often involuntary, of the
memory by listening and the evocative power of
sounds. Here the effect is located in the
listener’s interpretation and association of a
given context. The everyday is filled with sound
signals that trigger particular memories; from
the acoustics of a childhood room to the
melancholic sound of foghorns, sounds often find
their meanings through their evocative power. In
music, the leitmotiv or the reprise often create
such effect.
- Drone (bourdon): Effect characterizing the
presence, in a sound ensemble, of a constant
layer of stable pitch, without any noticeable
variation in intensity. Linked to music in its
designation (the drone is a permanent bass over
which certain pieces are laid), the drone effect
can also be observed in urban and industrial
soundscapes. Many technical systems generate
constant sounds that are close to this effect,
even if the frequencies in question, are not
limited to the bass range that originally
characterized it.
- Masking (masque): Presence of a sound that
partially or completely masks another sound,
because of its intensity or distribution of
frequencies. This effect, easily demonstrated on
the acoustic level, also implies a subjective
reaction on the psycho-physiological level: the
masking sound can be judged as parasitic or,
conversely, favourable, depending on the value
given to the masked sound.
- Remanence (rémanence): Continuance of a sound
that is no longer heard. After extinction of
both the emission and propagation, the sound
gives the impression of being still "in the
ear". Remanence is neither an anamnesis (sounds
that are heard in the present and that evoke the
past), nor a phonomnesis (remembered sound,
without physical listening). It is simply the
trace of sound signals barely subsided. This
effect is very often used in music: permanence
of the tonal or modal climate of reference,
impression of hearing a continuous drone,
melismatic movements that make virtually present
an absent sound.
- Reverberation (réverbération): Propagation
effect in which a sound continues after the
cessation of its emission. Reflections of the
sound on surfaces of the surrounding space are
added to the direct signal. The longer
reflections conserve their energy, the more
considerable is the reverberation time. In
everyday language, reverberation is often
referred to as the "cathedral" effect, or, by
extension, as echo. While it is first and
foremost an effect linked to the physical
properties of the space of diffusion (or the
effects applied to an electroacoustic signal),
it also refer to the more symbolic
significations of reverberation (solemnity and
monumentality, for instance).
- Sharawadji (sharawadji): This aesthetic effect
characterizes the feeling of plenitude that is
at times created by the contemplation of a sound
motif or a complex soundscape whose beauty is
inexplicable. This virtual order, imperceptible
and present, produces fascination, and is
breathtaking. The sharawadji effect is
unexpected and transports us elsewhere, beyond
the strict representation of things, out of
context.
- Ubiquity (ubiquité): Effect linked to
spatio-temporal conditions which expresses the
difficulty or impossibility of locating a sound
source. In the major variant of this effect, the
sound seems to come from everywhere and from
nowhere at the same time. In its minor variant,
it seems to come from both a singular source and
many sources simultaneously, and may create a
feeling of disorientation.
- Wave (vague): Compositional effect describing
a sound or a group of sounds that we hear
following a curve of intensity whose shape is
analogous to that of a wave and its undertow:
crescendo, maximal point, fast or progressive
rupture of the sound, and decrescendo. These
cycles, spaced over relatively long intervals (a
few seconds), follow each other according to a
variable or regular frequency.
(1) For a more elaborate study of the
fractal relationship between each of Amphoux's
tripartite models, see Amphoux, 1991, 1993a;
Hellström, 2003.
(2) These descriptions come from Auogyard &
Torgue, 1995; my translation.
©
David Paquette 2004
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