School curricula in the United States tend to focus on students' visual sense, making the teaching and learning of aural art a unique and challenging endeavor. In this philosophical inquiry with practical applications, I propose that the music curriculum be reevaluated with an ear toward the quality of sounds students hear daily as a foundation…

Stephen Vitiello is a world-renowned contemporary sound artist whom the author has known as a colleague for several years. This article presents an interview about the overall body of Vitiello's work to date, and his thoughts on teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University. The interview explores the creative and noncreative tensions between…

Smith (2012) has provided pertinent observations on our recently published meta-analytic review (Szalma & Hancock, 2011) of the effects of acoustic noise on performance. His main points are as follows: (a) our review excluded some areas of research; (b) there were conceptual problems with our moderator analyses; and (c) limitations to…

Search the Internet for the qualities of a good teacher and you'll find that an entire range of ideas are offered. Having spent half a working life as a science teacher and the remainder as a science education consultant (and, for a period, an Ofsted team inspector!), the author would like to attempt to tease out what makes a "good science…

Reviews of the effects of noise on performance carried out in the 1980s suggested that results depended on the type of noise, nature of the task, and characteristics of the person performing in noise. This general view has been confirmed in the recent meta-analysis and synthesis by Szalma and Hancock (2011). There are, however, some notable…

At the turn of the twentieth century, the sound of presidential address changed from an orotund style to an instructional style. The orotund style had featured the careful pronunciation of consonants, elongated vowels, trilled r's and repeated declamations. The instructional style, on the other hand, mimicked the conversational lectures of the…

In this article, the authors address the conversation that, given the recent developments in the philosophy of mind, especially in terms of its cognitive turn, one task for philosophers of music might be to begin to speculate about the properties of music and organized sound that enable them to perform their various moral and cultural roles. The…

In this paper, we argue that music cognition involves the use of acoustic and auditory codes to evoke a variety of conscious experiences. The variety of domains that are encompassed by music is so diverse that it is unclear whether a single domain of structure or experience is defining. Music is best understood as a form of communication in which…

States the position of the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) toward ANSI Standard 12.60, which addresses classroom acoustics. Explains why it believes the standard creates an overly stringent requirement. (EV)

Addresses the concept of adding sound to existing personal computers. Describes hardware and software options and explores uses of computers equipped with sound. Sidebars summarize the development of stereo sound in multimedia products and describe the two major forms of computer sound: Musical Instrument Digital Interface and digital sound waves.…

Offers information about music as a science and as a form of communication. Describes classifications of musical instruments and advances in electronic musical technology. Includes two design briefs (student learning activities). (JOW)

The chapter defines speech perception, raises such questions as the nature of acoustical correlates of linguistic units, reviews available information on the auditory capabilities of hearing impaired listeners (such as detection of the time/intensity envelope and temporal resolution), and addresses the relationship between auditory skills and…

A bricoleur is a person who lives by recycling old materials. This article describes a bricolage, a junk sound sculpture, constructed mainly of junk metal. Selected readings are included. (KC)

This article addresses educational challenges for children with severe to profound hearing loss who receive cochlear implants. Despite the implants, these children face acoustic challenges, academic challenges, attention challenges, associative challenges, and adjustment challenges. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Claims that in metrical prose, rhythm can convey sense or express and underline what a writer is saying, and sound can be exploited to add a strong aural element that provides pleasure to the ears over and above the pleasure given by the sense of story. (SRT)