Sound Lets You See: A Phenomenology of Hearing Screen Media

This phenomenological investigation of ocularcentrism in screen media proceeds deductively. First, the significance of screen media is demonstrated. Next, synaesthetic merging of human senses is shown to begin with the body and to produce ready substitutions of seeing and hearing. The final deduction explores apperception – “seeing with” – a foundation of the phenomenological method. Sounds emanating from beyond the screen edge stimulate an expanded experience – a window to a wider world. This marginal consciousness has surprising power to dictate the audiovisual impact. In summary, off-screen sounds, combined with visual closure of objects partially hidden by the frame edge, stimulate in screen sense the apperception of a co-extensive world beyond the picture frame. Sound lets you see