Sound & Science: Digital Histories

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The CAETS Cross-Cultural Hearing Tests SEBASTIAN KLOTZ

The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits (CAETS), led by zoologist and anthropologist Alfred C. Haddon, was a key endeavor in British anthropology’s formative years. This chapter discusses its reports from 1901 and 1935, drawing on critical epistemologies of hearing to explore the expedition’s cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary framework. Before the rise of ethnomusicology proper, testing hearing became an important way of mediating translations from the laboratory to the field, from psychology to anthropology, from static stimuli to adaptive learning. Hearing tests in the Torres Straits promised easy access to a vital human capacity, but they proved inconclusive—no persuasive link could be drawn between hearing acuity and intelligence, undermining attempts to locate “savagery” and consolidate cultural difference. The CAETS researchers were unable to bridge the growing divide between reflexive anthropologies and the logic of cultures of measurement. Their hearing tests exposed a problematic relationship that still permeates the discipline today.

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Audio

Songs and Calls of Our Native Birds No. 3

Gorst, Charles. 1915. “Songs And Calls Of Our Native Birds No. 3”. 17735-A. RCA Victor.
Audio

Voices of the Loon

Barklow, William, and Robert J. Lurtsema. 1980. “Voices Of The Loon”. North American Loon Fund and the National Audubon Society.
Audio

The Wrens

1977. “The Wrens”. A Guided Tour Of The Voices Of Over 40 Species In Perhaps The Ultimate Songbird Family. Gainesville, Florida: Published privately by John William and Carol K. Hardy.
Audio

Sounds of Nature Vol. 8

Borror, Donald J., and William W.H. Gunn. 1963. “Sounds Of Nature Vol. 8”. Thrushes, Wrens, & Mockingbirds Of Eastern North America. Federation of Ontario Naturalists.
Person

H. J. L. Struycken

H. J. L. Struycken was a Dutch otolaryngologist, phonetician, and acoustician. After studying medicine in Groningen, in 1893 he started working at the Voorburg psychiatric hospital near Vught, where he attempted to distinguish psychiatric conditions from neurological speech disorders. His interest in phonetics and acoustics took Struycken to France and Germany, to visit clinics and approach instrument makers who could produce tuning forks for him to use in his clinical research.

1896
1950
Person

Adriaan Daniël Fokker

Adriaan Daniël Fokker was a prominent Dutch theoretical physicist. He is known in theoretical physics for the Fokker-Planck equation and his work on the theory of relativity. In the years around 1930, however, Fokker also became interested in room acoustics and the tuning of musical instruments. He designed several sound reflectors, which amplify the sound reaching the audience, especially in churches, but his work on musical instrument tuning is what made him more widely known.

1887
1972
Person

Cornelis Zwikker

Cornelis Zwikker was a Dutch physicist and one of the initiators of the Dutch Sound Foundation. After studying chemistry, mathematics, and physics in Amsterdam, he worked with Philips in Eindhoven until 1929, when he was appointed professor of theoretical and applied physics at the Delft University of Technology. Zwikker was responsible for the acoustic design of many buildings, among them the studios of the Dutch broadcasting organization AVRO.

 

Source:

1900
1985
Text

Publicatie No. 29 van de Geluidstichting

1941. “Publicatie No. 29 Van De Geluidstichting”. 29. Geluidstichting. Zwikker, C., Van Den Eijk, J. & Kosten, C. W. (1941). Absorption Of Sound By Porous Materials Ii. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.

Text

Publicatie No. 30 van de Geluidstichting

1941. “Publicatie No. 30 Van De Geluidstichting”. 30. Geluidstichting. Kosten, C. W. & Zwikker, C. (1941). Theory Of The Absorption Of Sound By Compressible Walls With A Non-Porous Surface-Layer. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.

Text

Publicatie No. 40 van de Geluidstichting

Geluidstichting,. 1942. “Publicatie No. 40 Van De Geluidstichting”. 40. Ontwerp Akoestische Begrippen En Grootheden. Omschrijvingen En Definities. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.

Browse the currently 2009 items in this database here