Sonopoietic Images

John Puterbaugh, 1999

When we hear separate sound objects, we do not hear them in such a way that they map directly from the physical world. In other words, listening is not merely audiographing the world of sound. We hear a continuous array of sonic shapes, some with clear boundaries, others without. To listen is to create and relate sonopoietic images. These sonopoietic images are unities that define and shape our sonopoietic space.

We are able to build sonopoietic images for sounds we have not yet experienced before – or at least not experienced in the same way. We construct these images for sounds that have no corollary in the physical world, because, we have no catalog of experiences with which to associate them. The audio signal is no longer a carrier of information about some physical process; but rather the listener must build an internal image. This image that we make is our conception of what the sound is or how it is produced. We funnel our ideas about the physicality of the world into these internal images and they elicit our expectations and focus our understanding. For example, we are sometimes surprised when we finally see a picture of a radio announcer whose voice we have heard for years, yet we cannot explain just how we expected the person to look. We have the vague notion of physical attributes suggested by the voice, but no actual correlations. The term, sonopoietic image , attempts to capture this phenomenon. Listening is not just experiencing
sound in-and-of-itself. Instead, a sonopoietic image contains (i) our understanding of the physical world, (ii) a specification of possible transformations that sounds can undergo, and (iii) sonic associations, e.g., a sound’s relation to other sounds and its effects on us as listeners. Our understanding of this image assumes that we will always attempt some form of description or coherence when we form a sonopoietic image (See Bregman 1977). Sonopoietic images exist in the auditory domain and provide a direct phenomenological link to the physical sound. They are not merely associations and resemblances of some abstract sound-producing object. In one sense, the term sound is used to specify audible vibrations capable of being heard by someone or something. An sonopoietic image is a particular experience of that sound.

Sonopoietic images differ greatly from visual images, which, for some people, accompany listening. These visual images can take on many forms. First, it is possible to conjure an image of what is making the sound. In this sense, we see an image that is directly related with the object or instrument creating the sound, such as a whistling tea kettle, shattering glass, or the vibrating strings of a guitar. Second, we sometimes visualize colors, shapes and textures while listening to sound. These abstract shapes and textures can be related to the overall feeling a sound evokes, or, more specifically, can correlate with one aspect of the sound – such as its pitch contour. And, finally, we can associate images with a sound, which are unrelated to the causation of the sound such as visualizing pastoral scenes, objects from outer-space, or a particular person or character. While similar to the idea of visualizing the source of the sound, this type of imagery can also include an explicit emotional element – such as an associated mood or feeling.

These three examples represent only a sampling of the many possible types of imagery that can accompany the act of listening to sound. In one sense, they resemble nodes in a vast continuum of possible imagery. What is important here is that there can be a visual element to the act of listening which necessarily informs and even guides the unfolding of the impressions associated with particular pieces of music or sounds. The impressions can elicit different sets of expectations. With that disclaimer, in the following essays, I will only focus on auditory images.

Bregman, A.S. (1977) Perception and behavior as compositions of ideals, Cognitive Psychology, 9, 250-292.