What do you think?
Rate this book
The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900-1933
A vibrant history of acoustical technology and aural culture in early-twentieth-century America.
In this history of aural culture in early-twentieth-century America, Emily Thompson charts dramatic transformations in what people heard and how they listened. What they heard was a new kind of sound that was the product of modern technology. They listened as newly critical consumers of aural commodities. By examining the technologies that produced this sound, as well as the culture that enthusiastically consumed it, Thompson recovers a lost dimension of the Machine Age and deepens our understanding of the experience of change that characterized the era.
Reverberation equations, sound meters, microphones, and acoustical tiles were deployed in places as varied as Boston's Symphony Hall, New York's office skyscrapers, and the soundstages of Hollywood. The control provided by these technologies, however, was applied in ways that denied the particularity of place, and the diverse spaces of modern America began to sound alike as a universal new sound predominated. Although this sound--clear, direct, efficient, and nonreverberant--had little to say about the physical spaces in which it was produced, it speaks volumes about the culture that created it. By listening to it, Thompson constructs a compelling new account of the experience of modernity in America.
In this history of aural culture in early-twentieth-century America, Emily Thompson charts dramatic transformations in what people heard and how they listened. What they heard was a new kind of sound that was the product of modern technology. They listened as newly critical consumers of aural commodities. By examining the technologies that produced this sound, as well as the culture that enthusiastically consumed it, Thompson recovers a lost dimension of the Machine Age and deepens our understanding of the experience of change that characterized the era.
Reverberation equations, sound meters, microphones, and acoustical tiles were deployed in places as varied as Boston's Symphony Hall, New York's office skyscrapers, and the soundstages of Hollywood. The control provided by these technologies, however, was applied in ways that denied the particularity of place, and the diverse spaces of modern America began to sound alike as a universal new sound predominated. Although this sound--clear, direct, efficient, and nonreverberant--had little to say about the physical spaces in which it was produced, it speaks volumes about the culture that created it. By listening to it, Thompson constructs a compelling new account of the experience of modernity in America.
510 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 2002
4 people are currently reading
279 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 18, 2019
This book was surprisingly fascinating, and illuminated a lot about the advance of modernity in the early 20th century. Thompson covers the rise of architectural acoustics as a scientific discipline, the development of acoustical building materials, and the advancement of electro-acoustic technologies. She also addresses the cultural and societal changes that were connected with these technologies and includes the art and entertainment that came about as a result: sound films, electronic music, and modernist music.
Thompson's prose and presentation of her material create a very readable, compelling narrative even when covering so many disparate aspects of her subject. Plus, Thompson makes everything interesting, even the details of acoustical tile design and composition. I came away with new understanding of life in this period, and of how architecture influences not just what we see but what we hear.
Thompson's prose and presentation of her material create a very readable, compelling narrative even when covering so many disparate aspects of her subject. Plus, Thompson makes everything interesting, even the details of acoustical tile design and composition. I came away with new understanding of life in this period, and of how architecture influences not just what we see but what we hear.
November 28, 2010
The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900-1933 by Emily Thompson opens with Thompson’s definition of “soundscape”, which she perceives to be “Like a landscape...simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving that environment.” Thompson is enabled by this combined understanding of architectural spaces unified with culture to employ the methods of technological history to cultural history. (1) As a result, the heart of this book is Thompson’s understanding of how technology and science change our daily lives.
Thompson ostensibly aims to provide “texture” for the “Machine age”. (1) By bringing audible experiences to the understanding of history it is possible to not only “render that understanding ‘acoustically correct’,” but to gain a better understanding of the “role of technology in the construction of that culture.” (11) Deeper than that, however, Thompson intends to open a new way to understand the past for historians. In particular she challenges architectural historians to employ aural history techniques to their research, but she states, “Any exploration of a soundscape should ultimately inform a more general understanding of the society and culture that produced it.” (9) In this way her challenge is also invitation, welcoming historians from disparate fields to cultural history.
Thompson’s book is organized into seven chapters or the introduction, the conclusion, and five essays. These five essays make up the meat of the book. The chapter after the introduction serves as context, providing a view into the technological developments that would shape the modern soundscape as well as earlier attempts to shape the soundscape. She introduces opening night at Symphony Hall in Boston as the beginning of the modern soundscape. The following four chapters each tackle the period between 1900 and 1933 from a different perspective. (5) Chapter three discusses the development of a scientific process around sound and noise. Chapter four talks about the arrival of industrial noise and attempts to abate noise. Here she also discusses how previously noise pollution was largely “organic”. (116) She makes the distinction that in this new era noise complaints shifted from “the sounds of human activity,” to “machine-age inventions.” (117) Chapter five discusses the development of building materials to mute noise and is followed by chapter six discussing the development of technologies to fill new muted spaces with “the sounds of life.” (228) Thompson concludes her book with opening night of Radio City Music Hall, arguing that by 1932 the modern soundscape was so ubiquitous that it had become unremarkable. (310) Further, she points to the beginning of the Great Depression as drawing new criticism to the development of the modern soundscape saying that the Radio City Music Hall “embodied the triumph of technical expertise...but this triumph was bittersweet in a world where the machines ... had failed to sustain ... material prosperity.” (312) Thompson’s organization effectively retraces the technological and cultural developments of this era by revisiting it five times and adding new layers of complexity with each pass.
The Soundscape of Modernity is impeccably researched with a wide breadth of sources cited. Each chapter requires a different variety of sources from math equations to nineteenth-century books on architecture to citywide polls on noise pollution. Thompson handles these sources well, using them to construct how people in the early twentieth century experienced these changes. With a topic so recent that many of the structures and sounds discussed exist today or are available in a recorded format, Thompson wisely works to put everything back into context rather than trying to convey an aural experience through text.
Thompson traces her theories back to dialectical materialism, saying, “Like Marx, I believe that the essence of history is found in its material,” though she is clear that this where any overlap with Marxism would end. (11) Thompson attempts to build on prior technological and architectural histories. The result is a heavy emphasis on intellectual history, particularly her emphasis on the work of Sabine.
Thompson’s book introduces fresh methods for approaching the past and challenges all historians to repaint the culture of the time they are discussing. While remaining a technological history, Thompson successfully uses these tools to write an urban cultural history simultaneously. Still there are a few interesting questions left unanswered. Thompson’s scope never reaches beyond urban areas. This seems to invalidate Thompson’s claim to define America’s modern soundscape, due to her omission of an entire half of America. Did rural America follow significantly after urban America in deploying the discussed technologies and why? It stands to reason that the issues of noise pollution were only relevant in a few boom cities, but movie theaters and radio would have spread into some rural areas. How did these technologies impact those communities? Still, this doesn’t invalidate the worth of Thompson’s book to historians interested in architecture or technology, or indeed any historian of modern America.
Thompson ostensibly aims to provide “texture” for the “Machine age”. (1) By bringing audible experiences to the understanding of history it is possible to not only “render that understanding ‘acoustically correct’,” but to gain a better understanding of the “role of technology in the construction of that culture.” (11) Deeper than that, however, Thompson intends to open a new way to understand the past for historians. In particular she challenges architectural historians to employ aural history techniques to their research, but she states, “Any exploration of a soundscape should ultimately inform a more general understanding of the society and culture that produced it.” (9) In this way her challenge is also invitation, welcoming historians from disparate fields to cultural history.
Thompson’s book is organized into seven chapters or the introduction, the conclusion, and five essays. These five essays make up the meat of the book. The chapter after the introduction serves as context, providing a view into the technological developments that would shape the modern soundscape as well as earlier attempts to shape the soundscape. She introduces opening night at Symphony Hall in Boston as the beginning of the modern soundscape. The following four chapters each tackle the period between 1900 and 1933 from a different perspective. (5) Chapter three discusses the development of a scientific process around sound and noise. Chapter four talks about the arrival of industrial noise and attempts to abate noise. Here she also discusses how previously noise pollution was largely “organic”. (116) She makes the distinction that in this new era noise complaints shifted from “the sounds of human activity,” to “machine-age inventions.” (117) Chapter five discusses the development of building materials to mute noise and is followed by chapter six discussing the development of technologies to fill new muted spaces with “the sounds of life.” (228) Thompson concludes her book with opening night of Radio City Music Hall, arguing that by 1932 the modern soundscape was so ubiquitous that it had become unremarkable. (310) Further, she points to the beginning of the Great Depression as drawing new criticism to the development of the modern soundscape saying that the Radio City Music Hall “embodied the triumph of technical expertise...but this triumph was bittersweet in a world where the machines ... had failed to sustain ... material prosperity.” (312) Thompson’s organization effectively retraces the technological and cultural developments of this era by revisiting it five times and adding new layers of complexity with each pass.
The Soundscape of Modernity is impeccably researched with a wide breadth of sources cited. Each chapter requires a different variety of sources from math equations to nineteenth-century books on architecture to citywide polls on noise pollution. Thompson handles these sources well, using them to construct how people in the early twentieth century experienced these changes. With a topic so recent that many of the structures and sounds discussed exist today or are available in a recorded format, Thompson wisely works to put everything back into context rather than trying to convey an aural experience through text.
Thompson traces her theories back to dialectical materialism, saying, “Like Marx, I believe that the essence of history is found in its material,” though she is clear that this where any overlap with Marxism would end. (11) Thompson attempts to build on prior technological and architectural histories. The result is a heavy emphasis on intellectual history, particularly her emphasis on the work of Sabine.
Thompson’s book introduces fresh methods for approaching the past and challenges all historians to repaint the culture of the time they are discussing. While remaining a technological history, Thompson successfully uses these tools to write an urban cultural history simultaneously. Still there are a few interesting questions left unanswered. Thompson’s scope never reaches beyond urban areas. This seems to invalidate Thompson’s claim to define America’s modern soundscape, due to her omission of an entire half of America. Did rural America follow significantly after urban America in deploying the discussed technologies and why? It stands to reason that the issues of noise pollution were only relevant in a few boom cities, but movie theaters and radio would have spread into some rural areas. How did these technologies impact those communities? Still, this doesn’t invalidate the worth of Thompson’s book to historians interested in architecture or technology, or indeed any historian of modern America.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2019
An awesome and innovative study of the relation of noise/sound to modernism. Not only new noise as indicative by industrialization and urbanization but also how noise was controlled.
May 13, 2023
great work on the history of acoustic science and its application to architecture
September 21, 2010
A special interest book written by an author that isn't especially interested.
The most intriguing aspect and in fact only part of this book I recommend reading, is the title.
The most intriguing aspect and in fact only part of this book I recommend reading, is the title.
Read
February 11, 2012architecture affects acoustic sound and vice versa.
December 21, 2012
amazing history of the senses adeptly handled and superbly written. scientific history entwined with cultural. you will be amazed at how interesting acoustic tile is.
December 14, 2013
A tremendously well researched history of the relationship between sound making and architectural practices. One of the central texts in the field of sound studies.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews