Our eardrums begin developing even before we are born.
A foetus starts responding to sounds as early as the fifth month of the pregnancy. Conversely, sight is the last sense to develop before the child is born. Relying on stereophony created by our two ears, the brain consciously locates the sound source and is capable of placing us in space with perfect precision due to the background sounds. We can also subconsciously pause when we aren’t receiving the auditory warning signals from our environment, just as we can snap back awake in an instant as soon as we detect a key auditory signal (a word, an approaching vehicle, a bell, a telephone…). In other words, when we focus on the sound source, we transition from the state of “hearing” to the state of “listening”. That act of listening is the basis of this entire project.
The technical part of the project relies on the development of the interactive sound experience, made possible by the now ubiquitous wireless technology. The app users can listen to a range of stories and gain insight into the inner life of another person thanks to the sound imprint of all kinds of information that make the auditory image of the modern world. Each individual listening spot, or rather, each auditory plane of the app, becomes yet another witness to the memories of the past and the present, a testimony to its physical location.
Following the path from one listening spot to the next, the app users recognize the sound source of the energy that pours in from the void and comes to life in their ears. This project aims to bring the visitor to the auditory centre of the bell jar, because the sound lasts forever. The sound is a vibration that exists only when it is heard. Even if it becomes undetectable to human hearing, it still reverberates in the silence and that is its greatest power.