Mechanical Sound: Technology, Culture, and Public Problems of Noise in the Twentieth Century

摘要

Humans living in groups have bothered each other with unwanted sounds at least since they acquired the ability to record complaints in written language. Yet the problem has changed both quantitatively and qualitatively in the last half millennium with the explosive growth of cities and the development of sound-producing technologies. It is the latter cause ("mechanical sound") that Karin Bijsterveld masterfully examines in this book. As the subtitle indicates, Bijsterveld delves into the intricate relationships among technology, culture, and perception, and it is her attention to the stool's third leg-perception-that truly distinguishes this work.