Critiquing the Political Utilisation of the Anechoic Chamber
In September 2019, the Museum of Portable Sound published a meme to cheekily aid students in creating titles for a Sound Studies thesis paper. Here’s an actual academic paper inspired by it.
In September 2019, the Museum of Portable Sound published the above image on its social media accounts to cheekily aid students in creating titles for a Sound Studies thesis paper.
Dr Harry Whalley of the University for the Creative Arts challenged students in UCA’s Music and Composition Technology course to do just that: write a thesis inspired by their usage of the above image to formulate a random paper title.
Reprinted below is one of the actual papers, written by student Frankie Talbot, and reprinted here by permission of both Talbot and Dr. Whalley.
Critiquing the Political Utilisation of the Anechoic Chamber
By Frankie Talbot
Manipulating the acoustic qualities of a space is a practice which has been researched for centuries. From amplification to noise reduction, the qualities of a space have been altered for a broad range of results. The ancient Greeks designed amphitheatres to project a whisper, isolation booths were developed for recording purposes, and Abbey Road Studios even designed a room solely for creating reverb. This vast array of structural manipulation for sonic results reached a pinnacle in 1943, with the construction of “Beranek’s Box”, also known as the anechoic chamber. I will be exploring the relationship between politics and the anechoic chamber, whilst critiquing political priorities when utilising this technology.
The term anechoic, meaning “without echo”, was coined by Leo Beranek (Beranek, 2010:66). The lack of echo or any resonant response makes the chamber completely silent, with the world record awarded to Microsoft’s anechoic chamber, measuring at -20 decibels (Swatman, 2015). As a point of reference, Yale’s decibel comparison chart places a whisper at 25db and rustling leaves at 20db, noting that 0db is our threshold of hearing. The chamber appears to push the boundaries of what we know as silence. The level of silence in the chamber is created with fibreglass foam wedges known as radar absorbing material (or RAM), which absorb the majority of sound waves whilst reflecting the rest back onto an adjacent wedge (Koidan et al., 1972). These wedges cover every solid surface so there is nowhere for sound to reflect, echo or reverberate. Many anechoic chambers even have a mesh floor with RAM beneath, again, eliminating all reverberant surfaces. This creates a vacuum of sound, causing anyone in the chamber to gain a heightened sense of hearing, with reports of subjects hearing blood moving through their limbs and squeaking vertebrae (Ross, 2017). This phenomenon brings a new meaning to what we know as silence. It appears that the phrase “silence” refers only to an awareness of sound, or lack thereof. True silence is perhaps impossible to achieve, or at least impossible to be observed, as our bodies betray our ears. Rath claims that “silence does not seem to exist in any empirical sense” (Rath, 2018:73). This may explain the discomfort that comes with prolonged periods in the chamber. The sounds heard in a “silent” space cause confusion, discomfort and a state of thoughtfulness.
The chamber famously influenced John Cage’s 4:33, a piece of music with no written notes, just 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. Since visiting the chamber, Cage has become obsessed with the concept of silence, even naming his collection of texts after the phenomenon. He describes hearing his blood in his veins and his nervous system humming at a high frequency, concluding: “try as we might to make silence, we cannot” (Cage, 1961:8). 4:33 is a representation of the impossibility of silence, where the piece becomes any noise which is made during the performance. Several scholars have actually attributed Cage’s experience in the anechoic chamber to an undiagnosed case of tinnitus (Fishkin 2015:14, McElhearn 2016) with Kyle Gann stating that “several doctors [confirmed] that no one can hear the operation of his or her nervous system” (Gann 2011:163–164). However, this does not take away from the power of the anechoic chamber. If anything, it reinforces the point that the chamber heightens self awareness beyond all else, with tinnitus being a good example of this phenomenon. Sufferers of tinnitus do not physically hear anything, it is caused by electrical responses from damaged parts of the inner ear (Newman, 2004:1). Dr. Newman explains how this auditory hallucination is intensified in a quiet space, much like a candle will seem brighter in a dark room (Newman, 2004:1). What this shows is our tendency to focus on something, be it a hallucination, or failing that, our own thoughts. When confined to “silence”, we search for something to focus on. This may be some explanation for the introspective nature of the chamber, as the heightened awareness often leads to self reflection. It is reported that most people cannot stay in the room for more than 15 minutes, as this sensation can be at once fascinating and maddening (Grey, 2017).
However, this was not the original intention of the anechoic chamber. Leo Beranek, the chamber’s inventor, was working for the US army when he came up with the design. He was tasked with vehicle noise reduction to improve communication, leading him to create the quietest space possible for testing volume levels (Beranek 2010:65). On the surface, the anechoic chamber and politics do not seem closely linked, however it is quickly apparent that the chamber’s relationship with politics is intrinsic, right from its conception. Its very foundations are born of military funding and research. But this was not the only instance of military utilisation of the chamber.
Ebrahim Nabavi describes his imprisonment in a space known as “The White Room”. This room has white walls, a white bed and the prisoners are served only rice on a white plate. The space is completely soundproof and the guards wear slippers so the only noises the prisoner can hear are the ones they make themselves (Bronson, 2017). The description of this room bares a strong resemblance to the effects of the anechoic chamber. Again, the lack of sonic distractions throws an individual into an acute state of self awareness, which, over prolonged periods, can become torturous. Nabavi described to The Human Rights Watch that “they get what they want without having to hit you” (Bronson, 2017). Solitary confinement is not unusual in prisons, with sensory deprivation being implemented by the CIA (Benjamin, 2007), USSR and China (Volcler, 2017). Not surprisingly, accounts from these instances are hard to come by, but the 1951 study by Dr. Donald Hebb displays the extreme effects of isolation and sensory deprivation. This study intended to observe volunteers who were subjected to sensory deprivation for six weeks, however the volunteers did not last for more than a few days, reporting they were “unable to think clearly about anything for any length of time and […] their thought process seemed to be affected in other ways” (Mechanic, 2012). These were not the expected results of the experiment, clearly displaying how sensory deprivation disrupts thought processes. “Physical pain is no longer an important component of this kind of torture. The aim is instead to induce states of indeterminacy in the one who is being tortured” says Nicholas Chare in regards to this technique of interrogation (Chare, 2005). It would be tenuous to suggest that this method is directly linked to the chamber, but the incidental effects of the chamber certainly contributed to the awareness of the effects of silence.
It would seem that an effective method of torture is inward, targeting the self rather than the environment. In fact, it is the lack of surroundings that becomes the torment. Dr. Donald Hebb conducted another study around voluntary deafness, where students’ ears were plugged with cotton for several days. Many reported feelings of “inferiority, irritability and a tendency to avoid others” (Hebb, 1954). This example speaks volumes in regards to the human response to silence. When one is starved of sonic stimulus, they retreat mentally and socially. Considering this, the weaponisation of the anechoic chamber is hardly surprising.
The weaponisation of audio reflects a shift in public opinion towards the use of violence, outlined in Walter Benjamin’s Critique of Violence. Where violence is a means to an end, the justification of the end goal is where the controversy begins. Post war times brought on a public critique of violence, where it was “no longer exercised or tolerated naively” (Benjamin 1921:241). This may suggest the development of these interrogation techniques; where the means cannot be justified, violence, at least in the traditional sense, is avoided. Goodman outlines some examples of violence through sonic warfare, where rock music combined with subliminal messages are constantly pumped into prisoners’ rooms (Goodman, 2012:21). When compared to the effects of the anechoic chamber, these extreme ends of the spectrum (silence versus loudness) seem to create similar mental states; an internal retreat. Volcler refers to this as “the war of the mind” (Volcler 2013). These uses of indirect violence cast an ominous shadow over the ingenuity of the human race. When violence is no longer tolerated, seemingly irrelevant developments may be harnessed to incite violence indirectly. The success of weaponisation raises the question; what if the same vigour was applied to researching nonviolent effects of the same developments?
Dr. Orfield of Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota runs an anechoic chamber which is open to visitors. Like many other chambers of this kind, it’s primary use is for precise audio testing, however Orfield has some theories that the chamber may hold medicinal value. “Those who enter the chamber describe how it resets their brains. […] We think there’s great potential for therapeutic uses” (Orfield, cited in Ross, 2017). He has even described its effectiveness in treating PTSD, autism and other hypersensitivities (Firman, 2017). One account from navy officer Nick Hair backs up Orfield’s theories. Hair spent nine months at sea, returning to land with a case of PTSD. On hearing of the effects of Orfield’s anechoic chamber, he requested a visit. The chamber helped Hair to find solace, and allowed him to return to some level of normality (Sottile, 2012). This refreshing view on the anechoic chamber opens the possibility of beneficial political uses of the previously weaponised introspective nature.
The array of responses to the chamber’s silence is truly astounding. The fact that it can be used both as therapy and torture is hard to fathom. The importance of silence in therapy has been noted in the 2009 survey by Clara Hill et al. “Therapists used silence primarily to facilitate reflection […] indicat[ing] that they would use silence with clients who were actively problem solving, but they would not use silence with very disturbed clients.” (Hill 2003). This actually contradicts the examples from the anechoic chamber, in the case of Hair (a disturbed individual), the silence helped him reflect. The value of this study is the clinical awareness of the relationship between silence and reflection. It is important to note that this reference to silence is regarding the “silence” of a normal room, which is actually around 10db. The anechoic chamber is up to three times quieter, suggesting the clinically observed effects would be intensified. Perhaps this contradiction is another comment on our definition of silence. Where “silence” at 10db may not be effective, silence at -20db appears to incite a different kind of response. The perceived silence of a therapist’s office may actually be an inaccurate representation, as perhaps 10db is not quiet enough to put a patient at ease. As previously stated, true silence is almost impossible to observe, but it may be more powerful in treating disturbed individuals than Hill makes out.
The importance of silence is also recognised in educational environments as a tool for reflection and problem solving. A study from 1978 explores children with hearing impairments, concluding that “classroom acoustics should be considered a critical variable in the educational achievement of children” (Finitzo-Hieber, Tillman, 1978). This idea expands upon Hill’s suggestion of allowing patients to problem solve in silence, suggesting this theory goes beyond therapy, and could be applied to problem solving of any kind. Another study on silence in classrooms by James Whitlock and George Dodd claims that “Reverberation in a space is shown to be potentially more damaging to children in the areas of speech intelligibility and response to background noise” (Whitlock, Dodd, 2007:44). They go as far as suggesting optimising classroom designs to improve the reverb responses. From these findings, we can conclude children may be more susceptible to their sonic surroundings and, incidentally, the positives of silence. Unfortunately, there are a lack of studies of children’s reactions to the anechoic chamber, but the aforementioned studies certainly show potential for educational benefits of the acoustic qualities of the anechoic chamber. Simply soundproofing classrooms may improve the students grades and concentration levels.
The anechoic chamber is currently used for a range of tests. Products are engineered, not to be silent, but to sound like they are working. Orfield theorises that “we don’t want products to be noisy, we don’t want products to be quiet, we want products to be in a certain zone that sounds like they’re operating under a quality mode” (Orfield, cited by Sottile, 2012). Once again, it would seem that the presence of silence causes uncertainty. The hum of an appliance is a reassurance that it is functioning. This ties in with the effects of the anechoic chamber and sensory deprivation, where true silence creates discomfort. Sound seems to put us at ease. Whether it is the ambience of a room, or the whirring of a vacuum cleaner, the auditive stimulus is reassurance of space, time and functionality.
Another modern day application of the anechoic chamber is military audio reduction, not dissimilar from its original purpose. But a more innovative military utilisation is testing the brain’s ability to localise multiple sounds simultaneously, with the goal of developing technologies to alert soldiers to the location of a threat (Adams, 2018). Once again, the military use of the chamber seems to have skimmed over possible medical developments, focusing instead on weaponisation. This extreme level of accuracy in testing hearing may be beneficial when treating hearing loss, as displayed in a study by Rosenhall. When comparing directional hearing in patients with hearing loss, he found that cases of more extreme hearing loss exhibited “abnormal directional hearing” (Rosenhall, 1985:187). This study lays out a recognised medical issue which may benefit from the research done in the chamber. Instead, the research is restricted to weaponisation, once again. The current usage of the chamber appears so narrow when the possibilities are considered.
The political use of the anechoic chamber spans all the way from torture to therapy. One thing the chamber has made very clear is the importance of our awareness of sound. Our ears are so fine tuned to our expectations that any deviations are confusing, or, as Chion puts it; “every instance of silence is disarming since it seems to expose our faculty of hearing” (Chion 2009:148). True silence may be impossible to achieve, but anything close seems to open mental pathways, both positive and negative. Despite minimal research into the positive side effects, I believe I have shown that the chamber carries enormous potential as a therapeutic tool. The introspective effect of the chamber has inspired art and science alike, but perhaps the negatives are the easiest to harness, as they are the most immediately apparent. Our eagerness to weaponise may have stunted opportunities for betterment, but our search for healing may hold a brighter future for the anechoic chamber.
Bibliography
Adams, E. (2018) Step Inside the Air Force’s Sound-Swallowing Anechoic Chamber. Wired https://www.wired.com/story/air-force-anechoic-chamber-acoustic-study/ (Accessed 12/01/20)
Benjamin, M. (2007) The CIA’s Favourite Form of Torture. Salon https://www.salon.com/2007/06/07/sensory_deprivation/ (Accessed 09/01/20)
Benjamin, W. (1921) Towards the Critique of Violence. Selected Writings Volume 1: 1913–1926. USA: Harvard University Press
Beranek, L., Sleeper, H., (1946) The Design and Construction of Anechoic Sound Chambers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Beranek, L. (2010) Riding the Waves: A Life in Sound, Science and Industry. MIT Press
Berry, G. (2019) Ringing, humming, silence : point of audition representations of deafness, tinnitus and sonic technology. UBC Thesis and Dissertations https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0380550 (Accessed 02/02/20)
Bronson, B. (2017) The ‘White Room’ Is The Single Most Sinister Torture Method Known To Man. Sick Chirpse https://www.sickchirpse.com/the-white-room-scary/ (Accessed 09/01/20)
Bull, M., Rath, R. (2018) The Routledge Companion to Sound Studies. Volume 1. Routledge
Cage, J. (1961) Silence. Wesleyan University Press
Chare, N. (2005) Regarding the Pain: Noise in the Art of Francis Bacon. Angelaki (Volume 10) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09697250500424395?scroll=top&needAccess=true (Accessed 09/01/20)
Chion, M. (2009) Film, A Sound Art. Colombia University Press
Dunning, G. (2015) 1951: John Cage in the Anechoic Chamber. Rhythm and Drone https://rhythmanddrone.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/1951-john-cage-in-the-anechoic-chamber/ (Accessed 12/01/20)
Finitzo-Hieber, T., Tillman, T. (1978) Room Acoustics Effects on Monosyllabic Word Discrimination Ability for Normal and Hearing-Impaired Children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research (Volume 21, Issue 3) https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/jshr.2103.440 (Accessed 20/02/20)
Firman, T. (2017) The Unique Way This Totally Silent Sound Bath Helps People Relieve Stress. Well and Good https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/silent-chamber-stress-relief/ (Accessed 04/02/20)
Fishkin, D. (2015) What Would Tinnitus Music Be? Wesleyan University https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1091&context=etd_mas_theses (Accessed 09/01/20)
Gann, K. (2011) No Such Thing As Silence. Yale University Press
Goodman, S., Massumi, B., Manning E. (2012) Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. MIT Press https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qdafQQ8fb8gC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=sonic+warfare&ots=lUVD2C7RQt&sig=3elfkqg110WCG5nIvN7G_XCubxM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=sonic%20warfare&f=false (Accessed 09/01/20)
Grey, R. (2017) Inside the Quietest Place on Earth. BBC https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170526-inside-the-quietest-place-on-earth (Accessed 12/01/20)
Hebb, D. (1954) Experimental Deafness. Canadian Journal of Psychology
Hill, C. et al. (2003) Therapist use of silence in therapy: A survey. Journal of Clinical Psychology https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jclp.10155 (Accessed 05/02/20)
Jackson, J. (2018) Silence is Golden Inside UW Lab. Toronto Star Newspaper https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8711372-silence-is-golden-inside-uw-lab/ (Accessed 12/01/20)
Jaworski, A., Sachdev, I. (1998) Beliefs About Silence in the Classroom. Language and Education Journal (Volume 12) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500789808666754 (Accessed 20/02/20)
Koidan, W. et al. (1972) Wedge Design for National Bureau of Standards Anechoic Chamber. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 52
McCoy, A. (2006) A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to The War on Terror. Owl Books https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xNpWEAg2B7UC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=a+question+of+torture+alfred+mccoy&ots=0M_OBZnHnA&sig=XCqrw-Ho2ztKH7hS1zzGQDnNTsA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=a%20question%20of%20torture%20alfred%20mccoy&f=false (Accessed 12/01/20)
McElhearn, K. (2016) John Cage and The Anechoic Chamber. Kirkville https://kirkville.com/john-cage-and-the-anechoic-chamber/ (Accessed 7/01/20)
Mechanic, M. (2012) What Extreme Isolation Does to Your Mind. Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/donald-o-hebb-effects-extreme-isolation/ (Accessed 01/02/20)
Morton, E. (2014) How Long Could You Endure the World’s Quietest Place? Slate http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/05/05/orfield_laboratories_in_minneapolis_is_the_world_s_quietest_place.html (Accessed 12/01/20)
Newman, C. (2004) How Did My Tinnitus Become So annoying? Update: The Newsletter of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (Volume 16) https://www.caohc.org/updatearticles/spring04.pdf (Accessed 20/02/20)
Ono, N. et al. (1996) Anechoic chamber and wave absorber Patent. https://patents.google.com/patent/US5510792A/en (Accessed 20/01/20)
Ross, J. (2017) ‘Quietest Place on Earth’ Finds Purpose in Healing Humans. Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/quietest-place-on-earth-finds-purpose-in-healing-humans/450258993/?section=variety%2Fmagazine (Accessed 14/02/20)
Rosenhall, U. (1985) The Influence of Hearing Loss on Directional Hearing. Scandinavian Audiology (Volume 14) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/01050398509045940 (Accessed 20/02/20)
s.n. (s.d.) Decibel Level Comparison Chart. Yale University https://ehs.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/decibel-level-chart.pdf (Accessed 12/01/20)
Sottile, C. (2012) The Sound of Silence: Sailor Find Peace in Worlds Quietest Room. NBC https://www.today.com/news/sound-silence-sailor-finds-peace-worlds-quietest-room-1C7219583 (Accessed 12/01/20)
Swatman, R. (2015) Microsoft Sets Guinness World Record for Quietest Place on Earth with Eckel Anechoic Chamber. Guinness Book of World Records https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/10/microsoft-lab-sets-new-record-for-the-worlds-quietest-place-399444?fb_comment_id=1143826665645803_1143921322303004 (Accessed 24/02/20)
Volcler, J. (2013) Extremely Loud: Sound as a Weapon. The New Press https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NxCNAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=extremely+loud&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje08fN-djnAhVRoXEKHTe8D04Q6AEIMTAB#v=onepage&q=extremely%20loud&f=false (Accessed 12/01/20)
Whitlock, J., Dodd, G. (2007) Speech Intelligibility in Classrooms: Specific Acoustical Needs for Primary School Children. Building Acoustics (Volume 15) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1260/135101008784050223 (Accessed 20.02.20)
