Stereophonica: Sound and Space in Science, Technology, and the Arts

by Gascia Ouzounian

Episodes in the transformation of our understanding of sound and space, from binaural listening in the nineteenth century to contemporary sound art.

The relationship between sound and space has become central to both creative practices in music and sound art and contemporary scholarship on sound. Entire subfields have emerged in connection to the spatial aspects of sound, from spatial audio and sound installation to acoustic ecology and soundscape studies. But how did our understanding of sound become spatial? In Stereophonica, Gascia Ouzounian examines a series of historical episodes that transformed ideas of sound and space, from the advent of stereo technologies in the nineteenth century to visual representations of sonic environments today.

Developing a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective, Ouzounian draws on both the history of science and technology and the history of music and sound art. She investigates the binaural apparatus that allowed nineteenth-century listeners to observe sound in three dimensions; examines the development of military technologies for sound location during World War I; revisits experiments in stereo sound at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1930s; and considers the creation of “optimized acoustical environments” for theaters and factories. She explores the development of multichannel “spatial music” in the 1950s and sound installation art in the 1960s; analyzes the mapping of soundscapes; and investigates contemporary approaches to sonic urbanism, sonic practices that reimagine urban environments through sound.

Rich in detail but accessible and engaging, and generously illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps, and diagrams of devices and artworks, Stereophonica brings an acute, imaginative, and much-needed historical sensibility to the growing literature around sound and space.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art

248 pages, Hardcover

Published February 16, 2021

About the author

Gascia Ouzounian is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oxford.

Reviews

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but feels very incomplete, and the choice of subject for the chapters seems somewhat arbitrary once past the initial sections on the history of listening and recording technologies. There are whole fields of knowledge that go mostly unmentioned - architectural acoustics, cinema surround sound, video game ambisonics - these are not the focus of the book but all contribute to a listening subject's perception of their sonic-spatial world, and the book would be stronger if these were connected to the history and other examples here. Additionally, the war thread is left dangling - why not expand on how sensing technologies influenced experimental musicians, for example in how military surplus radio parts, oscillator circuits, etc were repurposed by early electronic artists, who also dealt with spatial audio installations? Such a short book must limit its scope, but I was left feeling a lot was missing.

[Ron Piovesan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on the art, science, politics and history of the intersection of sound and space. It may seem like a niche subject, but so many of our experiences are impacted by how we hear the world around us. From tracing the history of audio defense in WWI to hear for planes, to looking at how sound shapes our urban experiences, the book offers analysis and anecdotes that explain the relationship between sound and space and how artists and scientists explored this relationship.