I find psychoacoustics to be a fascinating topic, as I enjoy looking at how humans perceive sound and how everyone can perceive sound in their own ways.
The way we hear and perceive sound was challenged by avant-garde composers creating tracks with sounds we’ve never heard before. Whether this is the early work of John Cage, introducing Musique Concrete to a wider audience, or when synthesizers became more widely used, opening up a whole new realm of sound for both the audience and the artists. Composers at this time like Pauline Oliveros, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Wendy Carlos took this new invention and strived to challenge how we as humans hear and perceive sound.
Oliveros is famous for her ‘Deep Listening’ work which was Oliveros’ own way of teaching people the art and beauty of listening. The term ‘deep listening’ was coined by Oliveros after going down 14 feet into Dan Harpole underground cistern in Port Townsend, Washington. She went there to record a piece, and she came out with the idea of ‘deep listening’. ‘Deep Listening’ has continued to grow, even past her death. It has become a staple of Sound Arts and is one of the most revolutionary listening techniques of all time.
Even in mainstream music, sound has changed considerably with the introduction of synthesizers into popular music during the ’70s and ’80s. Unique time signatures have become more common as popular music taste grows and evolves.
Personally, I’ve had some interesting experiences with how people can interpret sound differently. When I am back in my hometown, I work with young adults with special needs, ranging from more abled to severely disabled. The young adults I cared for typically had autism, brain damage, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, speaking issues, etc. We would host music classes, in which they could play an instrument of their choice which was typically percussion, singing, or guitar. It was fascinating hearing their listening habits. When they’d choose a song to play, a lot of them would pick the same song over and over again, including Disney songs, children’s shows theme songs, nursery rhymes, or pop hits from the ’70s until the present. It was interesting to see the amount of joy listening to music could bring to them, and how they use music as a creative outlet to express themselves, which they may not have had the chance to do before.