MARTYRDOM OF THE EAR

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 29, 3 August 1933, Page 10

MARTYRDOM OF THE EAR

When ihe sound pictures cumc in, theatre people realised suddenly how little was known about acoustics. The actors of the "flesh and blood" stage had been used to performing in good theatres, bad I theatres, and indifferent, theatres, land had got along somehow; but the [mechanical voices produced some weird effects, and all sorts of adjustments and all sorts of wall treatments were tried, until, by a process of trial and error, a degree of balance was struck. '■ Even . so, the search for sound balances helpful to the ear has only begun, and in the streets one doubts whether it- has [begun at all. Long intolerant of what offends the eye, man has yet jbeen content to have his ear bombarded with the most discordant of sounds, and in this case the offender has been civilised rather than savage man, because the beat of tomtoms is rhythmic, while the sound of motor horns and exhausts is not. Bent on relieving to some extent the martyrdom of the ear, a Melbourne "architectural acoustic consultant" has been telling Sydney that on the sound scale average human speech registers at from 40 to 50 decimals; the human voice is drowned when external noises exceed 50 decimals; and in Sydney streets—even inside some Sydney buildings—these noises, register 70 decimals. His criticism is giving rise to an argument whether Sydney's tra'mcars are noisier than Melbourne's.. Effects of abusing the human eye seem to be more immediate and painful than effects of abusing the ear. Even mothers seem to prefer administering "a clip on the ear" to a clip on the eye. But nervous derangement resulting from hideous noises is probably as deepseated as any.