Re: Cage on sounds in your head [another view of tinitus]

[David Myers <dmgraph@earthlink.net>]

A few years back I took a poll of friends and acquaintances (and even this
list) concerning this question; the varied responses I received were quite
interesting.  There are certainly "sourceless" sounds present in the
organism which have nothing to do with ear damage, and I have often 
referred
my friends to Cage's observation.  My conclusion is that, apart from
tinitus--which must certainly be very real and problematic for certain
people--there are interior sounds which always exist.  They are probably, 
as
Harvard had it, the nervous system and circulatory system--and a few things
else besides.  In very quiet environments I have been able to detect at
least these bands and perhaps also a third which I almost want to describe
as "muscular".  People familiar with meditative practice seem most inclined
to know of these sounds, but even the most quiet and introspective
individuals sometimes profess complete ignorance of them.  It is a bit of a
puzzle.  I even see in myself that at times I hear the sounds and at other
times do not; it depends on where my attention is focused.  If I actively
look for the sound, it is there.  Most curiously: men report the awareness
of this much more often than women!

David Lee Myers

on 6/20/01 8:37 PM, Travis Hartnett at tiktok@sprintmail.com wrote:

> The BBC site has a summary of a documentary they're running on Radio4 on
> experimental music.  There's a few audio clips of interviews, one of 
>which
> is with John Cage telling the story of his first visit to Harvard's 
>anechoic
> chamber, which to his surpise didn't *sound* silent when he was in it.  
>You
> can listen to the Realaudio clip if you'd like, but for the
> bandwidth-limited, he told one of the Harvard guys that something was 
>wrong
> with the "silent" room, because he heard two sounds in it--one very high,
> the other very low.  Harvard's answer was that the high tone was the 
>sound
> of his nervous system, and the low tone was that of his circulatory 
>system.
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental.shtml
> 
> 
> TH