WHAT IS NOISE?
The New Yorker|April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue)
Unpleasant sounds are a matter of perception—and control.
- ALEX ROSS
WHAT IS NOISE?

“Noise” is a fuzzy word—a noisy one, in the statistical sense. Its meanings run the gamut from the negative to the positive, from the overpowering to the mysterious, from anarchy to sublimity. The negative seems to lie at the root: etymologists trace the word to “nuisance” and “nausea.” Noise is what drives us mad; it sends the Grinch over the edge at Christmastime. (“Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!”) Noise is the sound of madness itself, the din within our minds. The demented narrator of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” jabbers about noise while he hallucinates his victim’s heartbeat: “I found that the noise was not within my ears. . . . The noise steadily increased. . . . The noise steadily increased.”

この蚘事は The New Yorker の April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) 版に掲茉されおいたす。

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この蚘事は The New Yorker の April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。