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The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World
A tour of the world’s most amazing acoustic phenomena that reveals how sound works in everyday life. Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in exotic noises―creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird. With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound’s surprising dynamics in everyday settings―from your bedroom to the opera house. The Sound Book encourages us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us. 35 illustrations
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 9, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
September 29, 2014
Trevor Cox is an acoustic engineer, and his hobby seems to be to go around the world, looking (and listening) for locations of interesting sounds and sound effects. While the average person might not find it engaging, as a scientist with acoustics background, and as a composer, I found much of the book to be fascinating.
The first chapter is about finding reverberant locations--places where the reverberations from sounds last a long time. I learned that the optimum reverberation time for a concert hall is 1.9 seconds. Large Gothic cathedrals have much longer reverberation times, which helps to explain some aspects of the character of church music during the medieval, renaissance, and baroque periods. Reverberation time is measured by recording the aftermath of a pistol shot or a bursting balloon--some type of loud, impulsive sound. The most reverberant location turns out to be an emptied underground oil reservoir in England. The pores in the concrete walls are plugged up with oil, so there is very little loss of acoustic energy.
Another chapter of the book describes the sounds made by certain animals. The book tries to illuminate why some cricket sounds are annoying, while others are soothing. Likewise, some bird songs are annoying, while others are soothing. Recordings of the loudest individual animal, the blue whale, are sometimes masked by the even louder noises produced by multitudes of snapping shrimp. But the communications between whales are hindered by the ever-increasing background noise level of ships.
Trevor Cox also investigates what might be one of the quietest places on earth--or at least, in England--deep in a forest. Far quieter are the anechoic chambers that are used for testing the acoustics of devices like loudspeakers. And, Cox investigates the acoustic properties of whispering chambers. These are rooms and environments where a soft whisper is heard from a far distance, and seem to challenge one's intuition that sound diminishes with distance.
While I was fascinated by all of the chapters, I suspect that the average reader might not be equally intrigued. The reason is that it is difficult to describe sounds with words. I would suggest that a future publication of the book include a CD with recordings--the author makes it clear that he made recordings of all of these sonic wonders. Alternatively, an audiobook filled with recordings of the sounds would be wonderful.
The first chapter is about finding reverberant locations--places where the reverberations from sounds last a long time. I learned that the optimum reverberation time for a concert hall is 1.9 seconds. Large Gothic cathedrals have much longer reverberation times, which helps to explain some aspects of the character of church music during the medieval, renaissance, and baroque periods. Reverberation time is measured by recording the aftermath of a pistol shot or a bursting balloon--some type of loud, impulsive sound. The most reverberant location turns out to be an emptied underground oil reservoir in England. The pores in the concrete walls are plugged up with oil, so there is very little loss of acoustic energy.
Another chapter of the book describes the sounds made by certain animals. The book tries to illuminate why some cricket sounds are annoying, while others are soothing. Likewise, some bird songs are annoying, while others are soothing. Recordings of the loudest individual animal, the blue whale, are sometimes masked by the even louder noises produced by multitudes of snapping shrimp. But the communications between whales are hindered by the ever-increasing background noise level of ships.
Trevor Cox also investigates what might be one of the quietest places on earth--or at least, in England--deep in a forest. Far quieter are the anechoic chambers that are used for testing the acoustics of devices like loudspeakers. And, Cox investigates the acoustic properties of whispering chambers. These are rooms and environments where a soft whisper is heard from a far distance, and seem to challenge one's intuition that sound diminishes with distance.
While I was fascinated by all of the chapters, I suspect that the average reader might not be equally intrigued. The reason is that it is difficult to describe sounds with words. I would suggest that a future publication of the book include a CD with recordings--the author makes it clear that he made recordings of all of these sonic wonders. Alternatively, an audiobook filled with recordings of the sounds would be wonderful.
January 18, 2015
This book presents a great topic of investigation... in disappointing writing.
The Good: The variety of natural and man-made sounds Trevor Cox investigated is impressive – the list of sound sites spans specific ancient ruins, artwork, concert halls, natural elements like water and sand, our own human bodies, and plenty more.
I enjoyed moments when Cox dispels general misconceptions about how our hearing or understanding of sound works, and when he takes the time to explain in near-scientific terms the finer points of sound phenomena. The author confidently handles all topics and case studies. What’s more, he fully grasps which phenomena readers will be completely new to, and the ones with which they may only have a vague familiarity.
Ultimately, I was encouraged by this book to pay more careful attention to reverberations, echoes, and dying vibrations as I pass through different sound environments. I’m encouraged to develop my own hearing and listening capacity.
The Bad: All that said, the writing is uninspiring at best. The transitions between topics, often within the same chapter, can be un-illuminating and clumsy. I was annoyed by how often the author referred to his role in the sound community (frequently reiterating his professional standing, describing his own research is “pioneering” and “innovative,” relishing the difference between his awareness of sonic quirks and the obliviousness of common folk around him). This may not bother other readers, since presumably the author was only attempting to keep readers’ interest by grounding a non-fiction book in personal experience. Even this personal-experience angle, however, occasionally came across in unsophisticated and annoying language, such as when he describes an expert in water sound as a “middle-aged Harry Potter [but] an expert in bubbles, not potions.”
All that is to say: the writing is not deplorable, but if you’re accustomed to authors whose expertise seamlessly and elegantly carries their discussion, this is not the book for you. With better (or better-edited) writing, this book would be a solid 4/5.
The Good: The variety of natural and man-made sounds Trevor Cox investigated is impressive – the list of sound sites spans specific ancient ruins, artwork, concert halls, natural elements like water and sand, our own human bodies, and plenty more.
I enjoyed moments when Cox dispels general misconceptions about how our hearing or understanding of sound works, and when he takes the time to explain in near-scientific terms the finer points of sound phenomena. The author confidently handles all topics and case studies. What’s more, he fully grasps which phenomena readers will be completely new to, and the ones with which they may only have a vague familiarity.
Ultimately, I was encouraged by this book to pay more careful attention to reverberations, echoes, and dying vibrations as I pass through different sound environments. I’m encouraged to develop my own hearing and listening capacity.
The Bad: All that said, the writing is uninspiring at best. The transitions between topics, often within the same chapter, can be un-illuminating and clumsy. I was annoyed by how often the author referred to his role in the sound community (frequently reiterating his professional standing, describing his own research is “pioneering” and “innovative,” relishing the difference between his awareness of sonic quirks and the obliviousness of common folk around him). This may not bother other readers, since presumably the author was only attempting to keep readers’ interest by grounding a non-fiction book in personal experience. Even this personal-experience angle, however, occasionally came across in unsophisticated and annoying language, such as when he describes an expert in water sound as a “middle-aged Harry Potter [but] an expert in bubbles, not potions.”
All that is to say: the writing is not deplorable, but if you’re accustomed to authors whose expertise seamlessly and elegantly carries their discussion, this is not the book for you. With better (or better-edited) writing, this book would be a solid 4/5.
September 7, 2014
We are surrounded by sounds and noise, some of it good, like the song of a bird, but a lot of it bad like the hammer of a road drill. In the book, Cox is seeking out some of the natural and non natural sounds that we come across every day.
He visits locations all across the work in this book, from the natural caves and amphitheatres that have natural echoes and reverbs to the singing desserts in the Mojave dessert and the tidal bore of the river Severn. There are noises that that humans have created that define a place; Big Ben for example, as well as art installation that use wind and water to generate music. There is even a road in California that when you drive on it will play the William Tell Overture.
And from the noise he seek tranquility. He visits the quietest place in the UK, Kielder Forest and well as one of the quietest rooms in the world, where the complete absence of noise is unnerving. There is lots on buildings, from the Whispering Galleries of St Paul's and the arch in Clonmacnoise in County Offaly in Ireland and the Teufelsberg dome in Germany.
Found this to be well worth reading. The science is not too hard nor simple and Cox writes with a engaging style. He is an enthusiastic evangelist of sounds, and is well qualified to write this being Professor of Acoustic Engineering at Salford. And he has a website that you can visit to listen to these too: https://soundcloud.com/sonicwonderland
He visits locations all across the work in this book, from the natural caves and amphitheatres that have natural echoes and reverbs to the singing desserts in the Mojave dessert and the tidal bore of the river Severn. There are noises that that humans have created that define a place; Big Ben for example, as well as art installation that use wind and water to generate music. There is even a road in California that when you drive on it will play the William Tell Overture.
And from the noise he seek tranquility. He visits the quietest place in the UK, Kielder Forest and well as one of the quietest rooms in the world, where the complete absence of noise is unnerving. There is lots on buildings, from the Whispering Galleries of St Paul's and the arch in Clonmacnoise in County Offaly in Ireland and the Teufelsberg dome in Germany.
Found this to be well worth reading. The science is not too hard nor simple and Cox writes with a engaging style. He is an enthusiastic evangelist of sounds, and is well qualified to write this being Professor of Acoustic Engineering at Salford. And he has a website that you can visit to listen to these too: https://soundcloud.com/sonicwonderland
February 18, 2023
Well written, and enthusiastically written as well. The science here is easily understood for the most part as he focuses more on explaining what it all means or implies rather than on how everything is calculated. Lots of good footnotes for following up anything that strikes your fancy. This is the kind of book where you hear the world a bit differently after finishing it. There is a Buddhist like heightened awareness of sounds that lingers afterwards. I might sneak this onto one of my kids’ shelves now.
December 14, 2014
We live in a visual world. Image processing takes much of our brain function. But we also live in an aural world. Close your eyes right now. Listen. Kids, birds, refrigerator, river, traffic? This is a book for the aural compulsives among us, those of us who enjoy the sounds of nature, city, music, soundscapes, sound sculptures and quiet silence.
As an architectural acoustician for twenty-five years, the author removed unwanted noises. But he forgot how to listen to the sound itself. This book celebrates and explains sound and how to listen better. He advocates a recalibration of our senses, reducing the visual while increasing the audio. He guides us to unique and mundane sounds around the world, educating us about sonics along the way.
For example, chamber music sounds best when the reverberation lasts about fifteen seconds. Organ music needs a longer reverb. And that's for the enjoyment of the notes as they hang in the air, which explains why some acoustic music sounds terrific in old cathedrals. "There's a richness in a cathedral absent from the concert hall," writes the author.
I favor chamber music and small ensembles in live spaces and cathedrals, and Trevor Cox tells why. I live with tinnitus and hearing loss at the high end, which may explain my motivation now for music in reverberant spaces. But the author also explains that rooms with shorter reverb allow for more intricate music with a brisker tempo, which brings to mind alt and acoustic music clubs. So, there's that, too.
Nuggets: Outdoors in the city, to compensate for human noise, the great tits of London and Paris sing higher and faster than their counterparts in the forest. … Trevor takes us to the Mapparium in Boston at the home of the Christian Science church, where we walk through a globe of the world nine-feet in diameter. In the perfect sphere, he demonstrates the acoustic properties of echoes through whispering and talking. Great fun to read his take on a place that I visited about twenty years ago.
Echoes and reverberation differ, we learn here. An echo is the same sound or word coming back. Reverb is the indistinct afterlife of the original sound bouncing around as it decays.
Whispering galleries appear around the world, including Grand Central Terminal and St Louis Union Station. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago includes a whispering gallery. These demonstrate the properties of echoes and calibrated concave surfaces.
I hate clanging, dissonant wind chimes. But the sculpture garden of the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, includes forty-seven chimes of 288 tubes hanging in a cluster of trees that create an ethereal and haunting experience in a gentle breeze. The sonics change with every step walking through the soundsculpture.
There's quiet, too. When city people move to rural areas, they often hear cocks crowing, horses braying and tractors tractoring. The city slickers expected peace and quiet. The rural people adjust the expectations of these townfolk, the author writes. … I often wear earplugs in cafés and when taking buses or trains to cut down the distractions while reading. On trains, earplugs greatly reduce the sound of steel wheels on steel rails
Here's another science book by a Brit. These books typically use the metric system for units of measure, such as kilometers and centigrade. Here, mercifully, the author uses metric and the US customary units, which adds to a quick and clear comprehension. But when will we join the rest of the world and go metric?
Four solid stars. Trevor Cox wants a better-sounding world. The second half of the book started to feel routine as the novelty of the sonic tour began to wear off. But still engaging, nonetheless. Thirty pages of notes.
Befitting its title, The Sound Book caught my ear during an intriguing interview on Fresh Air. http://www.npr.org/2014/02/19/2796286...
Sounds and music intrigue me: A favorite family photograph shows me with my new console turntable at age three, and so began my hands-on playing with music and sounds. … As a kid, I played piano and oboe. … By high school, I was the sock-hop DJ for several years. Boys liked the fast songs. Girls asked me to play the slow ones. … As a young adult, I worked in radio for ten years, wearing headphones all the time. … Grado sr-80 now serve as my preferred headphone for music and movies, which puts sound in the middle of my head, where it belongs for maximum listening pleasure. It's an audio IV to the brain, which is another sonic wonder of the world.
As an architectural acoustician for twenty-five years, the author removed unwanted noises. But he forgot how to listen to the sound itself. This book celebrates and explains sound and how to listen better. He advocates a recalibration of our senses, reducing the visual while increasing the audio. He guides us to unique and mundane sounds around the world, educating us about sonics along the way.
For example, chamber music sounds best when the reverberation lasts about fifteen seconds. Organ music needs a longer reverb. And that's for the enjoyment of the notes as they hang in the air, which explains why some acoustic music sounds terrific in old cathedrals. "There's a richness in a cathedral absent from the concert hall," writes the author.
I favor chamber music and small ensembles in live spaces and cathedrals, and Trevor Cox tells why. I live with tinnitus and hearing loss at the high end, which may explain my motivation now for music in reverberant spaces. But the author also explains that rooms with shorter reverb allow for more intricate music with a brisker tempo, which brings to mind alt and acoustic music clubs. So, there's that, too.
Nuggets: Outdoors in the city, to compensate for human noise, the great tits of London and Paris sing higher and faster than their counterparts in the forest. … Trevor takes us to the Mapparium in Boston at the home of the Christian Science church, where we walk through a globe of the world nine-feet in diameter. In the perfect sphere, he demonstrates the acoustic properties of echoes through whispering and talking. Great fun to read his take on a place that I visited about twenty years ago.
Echoes and reverberation differ, we learn here. An echo is the same sound or word coming back. Reverb is the indistinct afterlife of the original sound bouncing around as it decays.
Whispering galleries appear around the world, including Grand Central Terminal and St Louis Union Station. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago includes a whispering gallery. These demonstrate the properties of echoes and calibrated concave surfaces.
I hate clanging, dissonant wind chimes. But the sculpture garden of the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, includes forty-seven chimes of 288 tubes hanging in a cluster of trees that create an ethereal and haunting experience in a gentle breeze. The sonics change with every step walking through the soundsculpture.
There's quiet, too. When city people move to rural areas, they often hear cocks crowing, horses braying and tractors tractoring. The city slickers expected peace and quiet. The rural people adjust the expectations of these townfolk, the author writes. … I often wear earplugs in cafés and when taking buses or trains to cut down the distractions while reading. On trains, earplugs greatly reduce the sound of steel wheels on steel rails
Here's another science book by a Brit. These books typically use the metric system for units of measure, such as kilometers and centigrade. Here, mercifully, the author uses metric and the US customary units, which adds to a quick and clear comprehension. But when will we join the rest of the world and go metric?
Four solid stars. Trevor Cox wants a better-sounding world. The second half of the book started to feel routine as the novelty of the sonic tour began to wear off. But still engaging, nonetheless. Thirty pages of notes.
Befitting its title, The Sound Book caught my ear during an intriguing interview on Fresh Air. http://www.npr.org/2014/02/19/2796286...
Sounds and music intrigue me: A favorite family photograph shows me with my new console turntable at age three, and so began my hands-on playing with music and sounds. … As a kid, I played piano and oboe. … By high school, I was the sock-hop DJ for several years. Boys liked the fast songs. Girls asked me to play the slow ones. … As a young adult, I worked in radio for ten years, wearing headphones all the time. … Grado sr-80 now serve as my preferred headphone for music and movies, which puts sound in the middle of my head, where it belongs for maximum listening pleasure. It's an audio IV to the brain, which is another sonic wonder of the world.
September 4, 2016
As someone who has worked with sound, as in making sound art or radio art or sound performances, it was nice to read a book by someone who has truly invested some intense thought to sound. The way space effects sound, the way nature's sounds effect us, the way we interpret noise, create ways to make noise and reduce noise etc... All woven together.
The book does explain a little bit of the science of sound waves etc... But I feel it's main import is to actually give attention to the visceral way sound and place and hearer effect each other.
One bit about reading this book and its structure. While Cox goes about talking about places of sonic interest he also splits each chapter with usually three threads... Talk about the space itself and his reactions, then usually two tangential thoughts about sound and interweaves them together throughout one chapter. Once you get the hang of the jumps from one point to another and start to inter-relate them the book brings a richer viewpoint of the topic. It was something that I had to get into and used to.... I've read other authors (mostly in fiction) that do this and find it can be disorienting once in a while. So, if you go in knowing this tidbit, it will help.
Also, the book does say he has a website and I was kind of hoping for being able to find out more, get more info--- actual sounds etc... But it wasn't as deep a site as I hoped. I didn't see (hear) if he has a YouTube channel...must remember to look into that.
But the one thing the book does -is that it makes you want to listen to the places he talks about, and just listen more. What is your favorite sound from your city? This was a question asked in a chapter. What is a sound you most identify with your city? I live in Chicago and I now am hearing crickets and an occasional car go past. If I recorded it and let other listen it may be mistaken for country or suburban locations. During the day, totally different sounds, buses, trucks and sirens, skateboards, airplanes.
A great book for those who want to delve into sound and the way it relates to us. If you're looking for a highly scientific book on sound, this isn't it. I like to think of this more like a social science of sound book, and one of the few that exist right now.
The book does explain a little bit of the science of sound waves etc... But I feel it's main import is to actually give attention to the visceral way sound and place and hearer effect each other.
One bit about reading this book and its structure. While Cox goes about talking about places of sonic interest he also splits each chapter with usually three threads... Talk about the space itself and his reactions, then usually two tangential thoughts about sound and interweaves them together throughout one chapter. Once you get the hang of the jumps from one point to another and start to inter-relate them the book brings a richer viewpoint of the topic. It was something that I had to get into and used to.... I've read other authors (mostly in fiction) that do this and find it can be disorienting once in a while. So, if you go in knowing this tidbit, it will help.
Also, the book does say he has a website and I was kind of hoping for being able to find out more, get more info--- actual sounds etc... But it wasn't as deep a site as I hoped. I didn't see (hear) if he has a YouTube channel...must remember to look into that.
But the one thing the book does -is that it makes you want to listen to the places he talks about, and just listen more. What is your favorite sound from your city? This was a question asked in a chapter. What is a sound you most identify with your city? I live in Chicago and I now am hearing crickets and an occasional car go past. If I recorded it and let other listen it may be mistaken for country or suburban locations. During the day, totally different sounds, buses, trucks and sirens, skateboards, airplanes.
A great book for those who want to delve into sound and the way it relates to us. If you're looking for a highly scientific book on sound, this isn't it. I like to think of this more like a social science of sound book, and one of the few that exist right now.
September 5, 2015
Trevor Cox is an acoustic engineer and his passion for sounds of all kinds comes over loud and clear in this fascinating exploration of some of the sonic wonders of the world and the mysterious sounds that the natural world often produces. He points out that sound is often ignored or blocked out when it becomes a nuisance but in fact we should pay attention and celebrate sound and thus become better listeners. His study is wide-ranging and covers a wealth of topics, from physics to music to neuroscience. Most of the time he manages to make often difficult science at least reasonably accessible – although I must admit he lost me at times. A website accompanies the book, so the reader can hear some of the sounds Cox talks about, but this is definitely a book that cries out to be produced with hyperlinks – it would have so enhanced my reading if I could have heard what I was reading about as I read it. However, given the limitations of writing about sound, Cox does an excellent job of making an abstruse subject comprehensible and if his aim is to make his readers more aware of the world around them, then he’s certainly succeeded with this particular reader.
June 8, 2018
Мир, оказывается, полон невероятно уникальных звуковых феноменов. Шепчущие галереи, рукотворные и нерукотворные шедевры акустики, привлекающие, в том числе, миллионы индусов, – это книга для всех изможденных визуальной подачей земного разнообразия. В добавление к погоне за зрительными, гастрономическими и спортивными ощущениями современным туристам теперь можно сосредоточится и на аудиальных. Согласно Т. Коксу, интересных мест на Земле насчитывается как минимум двадцать, и они удобно разбросаны по всей ее территории. В одних обитают необычные птицы-искусные звукоподражатели, в других вибрирует самое долгое эхо (37 секунд), в третьих, наоборот находятся безэховые камеры – самые тихие места на свете. Существующие чудеса лишь полдела, – научные эксперименты со звуком и слухом составляют не менее любопытную часть повествования.
December 28, 2018
This should be a series of movies!
The author immerses the reader in the wonderful world of diversity of sound. And it was a real challenge for him. And I really admire his attempt. But unfortunately Trevor did not quite handle it.
It is very difficult and inconvenient to try to perceive the information about the sound and at the same time not to hear it. Because of this, the book is more perceived as the personal diary of the author, rather than as a work about beauty and the mysteries of sound.
The chapter about animals is very interesting.
Nice try, but in my opinion the wrong format was chosen.
The author immerses the reader in the wonderful world of diversity of sound. And it was a real challenge for him. And I really admire his attempt. But unfortunately Trevor did not quite handle it.
It is very difficult and inconvenient to try to perceive the information about the sound and at the same time not to hear it. Because of this, the book is more perceived as the personal diary of the author, rather than as a work about beauty and the mysteries of sound.
The chapter about animals is very interesting.
Nice try, but in my opinion the wrong format was chosen.
March 17, 2022
The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World, by Trevor J. Cox Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford, is about sound phenomena, and what they tell us about acoustics and how we listen.
Thus Cox describes such auditory phenomenon as:
- The acoustical properties of various spaces
- Echo
- Reverb
- Animal sounds
- Whether animal sounds create an echo (particularly with regards to the quack of a duck for some reason)
- Whispering arches
- Natural sounds (volcanoes, ice, sand dunes, etc.)
- The acoustics of various venues
- Quiet places
I think the study of acoustics could be interesting, but in Cox’s hands … I didn't find it so. Here are a few problems I had with the book.
The text is very repetitive. For example, Cox examines echoes created by buildings, rooms, stairs, walls, storage tanks, tubes, ceilings, sewer pipes, poles, rocks, arches, spheres and on and on. Yes, sound reflects off hard surfaces. That’s really all there is to an echo. Very little new information is presented by examining this phenomenon over and over again.
Cox entertains a number of dubious ideas that struck me as both unscientific and highly improbable. For example:
- That Stonehenge was created to amplify speech
- That petroglyphs and pictographs were placed in locations such that when you spoke to them your voice would echo off the panel to make it sound like the figures were talking to you
- Or, in the case of a bison painting, that a clap sounded like hoof beats
- That ancient Mayan pyramids were designed in such a way that sounds reflected off them in such a way as to sound like the call of a Quetzal.
In the absence of evidence not only are these theories little more than just-so stories, but they are also, of course, entirely unproveable.
Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook and I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that a real opportunity was missed in the use of this medium. The obvious thing to have done would have been to include audio examples of the phenomenon being described as part of the audiobook. Instead, the narrator simply reads the book's text. This strikes me as both incredibly lazy and a complete failure of the imagination.
Thus Cox describes such auditory phenomenon as:
- The acoustical properties of various spaces
- Echo
- Reverb
- Animal sounds
- Whether animal sounds create an echo (particularly with regards to the quack of a duck for some reason)
- Whispering arches
- Natural sounds (volcanoes, ice, sand dunes, etc.)
- The acoustics of various venues
- Quiet places
I think the study of acoustics could be interesting, but in Cox’s hands … I didn't find it so. Here are a few problems I had with the book.
The text is very repetitive. For example, Cox examines echoes created by buildings, rooms, stairs, walls, storage tanks, tubes, ceilings, sewer pipes, poles, rocks, arches, spheres and on and on. Yes, sound reflects off hard surfaces. That’s really all there is to an echo. Very little new information is presented by examining this phenomenon over and over again.
Cox entertains a number of dubious ideas that struck me as both unscientific and highly improbable. For example:
- That Stonehenge was created to amplify speech
- That petroglyphs and pictographs were placed in locations such that when you spoke to them your voice would echo off the panel to make it sound like the figures were talking to you
- Or, in the case of a bison painting, that a clap sounded like hoof beats
- That ancient Mayan pyramids were designed in such a way that sounds reflected off them in such a way as to sound like the call of a Quetzal.
In the absence of evidence not only are these theories little more than just-so stories, but they are also, of course, entirely unproveable.
Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook and I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that a real opportunity was missed in the use of this medium. The obvious thing to have done would have been to include audio examples of the phenomenon being described as part of the audiobook. Instead, the narrator simply reads the book's text. This strikes me as both incredibly lazy and a complete failure of the imagination.
January 8, 2021
Cox is a professor of Acoustic Engineering, and I picked up this book after his recent appearance on Bill Nye's "Science Rules!" podcast. The book discusses principles of acoustics in the context of a number of acoustic marvels, places where acoustic effects are particularly striking. It's truly fascinating. I don't have any background in music theory, but I can understand almost everything from context (have to look up a few things). It also jumps around a bit, but that's a common characteristic of science books, which don't have a natural narrative structure. Cox's writing is clear and engaging, thought, and I enjoyed this. One tip: It's hard to understand come of his descriptions without hearing the actual sounds. Singing sand dunes are a good example. But you can find a lot of videos on YouTube where you can actually hear what he's talking about.
February 14, 2025
A recount of a variety of natural sound experiments - especially cave echos, building reverb, environmental noise. I would consider the focus more on journalism than science, with most of the chapters focused on the stories of capturing data and cultural moments.
A few things I found interesting:
- Many cave paintings seem to have been created in parts of the cave that have unique echo acoustics, maybe for certain experience or ceremony.
- Collecting recordings of silence to be augmented and used for backing audio (a technique often used in film)
- The idea of deeply focusing on soundscapes around you, including sounds untied to source or meaning
- Lots of cool materials science. Materials with acoustic bandgaps so only certain frequencies get through. Special ice impact recordings.
A few things I found interesting:
- Many cave paintings seem to have been created in parts of the cave that have unique echo acoustics, maybe for certain experience or ceremony.
- Collecting recordings of silence to be augmented and used for backing audio (a technique often used in film)
- The idea of deeply focusing on soundscapes around you, including sounds untied to source or meaning
- Lots of cool materials science. Materials with acoustic bandgaps so only certain frequencies get through. Special ice impact recordings.
March 29, 2019
Ironically, this book provides an excellent demonstration of how tone is perceived differently in oral and written language.
It's written in the style of a BBC documentary script: a first-person focus on personal observation and experience. That's all well and good for television programs, but in writing can come across pretentious and at times condescending. It's nothing necessarily to fault the writer over (maybe the editor...) but does affect how much a reader can or will bite off at a time.
I'm personally not a fan of audiobooks, but this is a case where listening through one might be ideal.
It's written in the style of a BBC documentary script: a first-person focus on personal observation and experience. That's all well and good for television programs, but in writing can come across pretentious and at times condescending. It's nothing necessarily to fault the writer over (maybe the editor...) but does affect how much a reader can or will bite off at a time.
I'm personally not a fan of audiobooks, but this is a case where listening through one might be ideal.
October 24, 2018
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend who said it "changed the way [she] experiences sound." Curious!
So I picked it up and read it. Definitely makes me pay more attention to the sounds around me, and opens up a whole world that I had previously closed off. Now I'm snapping in stairwells and talking at walls just to see what it sounds like.
Not sure if it will make me better at anything but listening & paying attention to things, but those are worthwhile things to get better at.
So I picked it up and read it. Definitely makes me pay more attention to the sounds around me, and opens up a whole world that I had previously closed off. Now I'm snapping in stairwells and talking at walls just to see what it sounds like.
Not sure if it will make me better at anything but listening & paying attention to things, but those are worthwhile things to get better at.
May 16, 2023
DNF. I got slightly over halfway through before giving up. The idea is strong, but the writing needs better organization. Mostly, Cox travels from place to place popping balloons and measuring echoes and reverberations. He'll toss in a bit of history from time to time plus a little debate over whether or not the effect was intentional. Rinse, repeat. The text also tends to wander, making it hard to track ideas.
Also, the audio version does it no favors. It's read in a dull monotone.
Also, the audio version does it no favors. It's read in a dull monotone.
March 11, 2024
Parts of this I really liked. It’s a challenging endeavor trying to convey a collection of aural anomalies through text. Cox explains the principles that make each of his study locations so unique clearly and it definitely has helped me think about or environment’s impact on our sonic experience. As a non musician, non acoustic engineer I did get a bit distracted / disinterested at times.
December 26, 2018
Great fun learning more about acoustically interesting places around the world and has renewed my interest in going back to Luray.
November 12, 2020
This had a lot of interesting information in it, but was somehow a slog to get through. Perhaps it is just the nature of reading about sound.
May 21, 2023
Interesting subject matter, absolutely insufferable narrator.
February 26, 2024
A good coffee table read; the topic presents itself as intriguing and unique, but the writing is not inviting.
June 11, 2014
Well this is a tough one to write. Real tough.
In The Sound Book, renown (?) acoustic scientist Trevor Cox – a soundophile – takes us on a journey around the world and visits several spaces that somehow alter the sounds we hear. Throughout the book, Cox discusses several phenomena and visits unusual spaces that affect the way we hear echoes, reverb, amplified whispers, and silence. In addition he goes in search of whistling sand dunes and trademark sounds that define several locations (like the sound of the Big Ben in London).
Though this is all well and good (and Cox expertly knows how to keep the science to a minimum when writing about sound), we are dealing with two problems here. One is that Cox has chosen to write a book to describe small nuances in noise. As such, it's hard to get excited over a sound or music phenomenon you have to read about. Especially when we're dealing with the issue of echoes or reverb or spaces that create a unique sound ("it creates a metallic sound" – huh?). As such, it would have been useful to provide some sort of CD or mp3 download with this book to supplement the chapters.
The other problem is that Cox doesn't really tell an exciting story behind these different phenomena. When Oliver Sacks told his stories about music(in his book Musicophilia), he based them each around a mystery that a person experiences. Cox on the other hand, jumps around from paragraph to paragraph describing different examples of a certain sound quality. Even when he tries to tie a story around a certain theme (are the sand hills he visited actually going to sing?), it's not really a gripping one.
The one chapter that does stand out (maybe along with the chapter on whisper amplification) is his chapter on silence, how he explores what happens when we experience total silence, how silence is used in music and outer space, how anechoic chambers (silent rooms) work, and how he experienced John Cage's art piece 4'33" (his son is right, it sounds like a total waste of time). An interesting chapter, but maybe because it deals with a phenomenon that translates to reading, which is silence.
In The Sound Book, renown (?) acoustic scientist Trevor Cox – a soundophile – takes us on a journey around the world and visits several spaces that somehow alter the sounds we hear. Throughout the book, Cox discusses several phenomena and visits unusual spaces that affect the way we hear echoes, reverb, amplified whispers, and silence. In addition he goes in search of whistling sand dunes and trademark sounds that define several locations (like the sound of the Big Ben in London).
Though this is all well and good (and Cox expertly knows how to keep the science to a minimum when writing about sound), we are dealing with two problems here. One is that Cox has chosen to write a book to describe small nuances in noise. As such, it's hard to get excited over a sound or music phenomenon you have to read about. Especially when we're dealing with the issue of echoes or reverb or spaces that create a unique sound ("it creates a metallic sound" – huh?). As such, it would have been useful to provide some sort of CD or mp3 download with this book to supplement the chapters.
The other problem is that Cox doesn't really tell an exciting story behind these different phenomena. When Oliver Sacks told his stories about music(in his book Musicophilia), he based them each around a mystery that a person experiences. Cox on the other hand, jumps around from paragraph to paragraph describing different examples of a certain sound quality. Even when he tries to tie a story around a certain theme (are the sand hills he visited actually going to sing?), it's not really a gripping one.
The one chapter that does stand out (maybe along with the chapter on whisper amplification) is his chapter on silence, how he explores what happens when we experience total silence, how silence is used in music and outer space, how anechoic chambers (silent rooms) work, and how he experienced John Cage's art piece 4'33" (his son is right, it sounds like a total waste of time). An interesting chapter, but maybe because it deals with a phenomenon that translates to reading, which is silence.
April 9, 2014
This is a book about discovering sound. Most people are frightened about sound. They think it is too loud and it hurts their ears. They are desperate for silence (ride the quiet car on a commuter train to find this out quickly). Others enjoy a noisy street, the train rumbling by, and the thumping of music.
This book is about other sounds, too. Such as the chirping stairs on Mayan pyramids, the ability to whisper in your own ear in the German town of Teufelsberg, and the squeaking of a beach in Australia. The author reveals what sounds are lost such as the dome of the US Capitol when renovated in the late nineteenth century. The then whispering dome could carry a voice elsewhere in the Capitol or turn an orator’s speech into “comical squeals”.
The author explores why a duck’s quack does not echo and what a pipe organ would sound like on Mars. He visits the Whispering Arch in St. Louis Union Station, MO and tries to solve the reason for ice to chirp when hit.
Trevor Cox is a professor of acoustic engineering and the book has numerous experiments he tried on himself and volunteers. Such as walking toward a wall while talking with a friend. Your voice will become louder, then get quieter the closer you come to the wall.
I liked the book because I learned something about the importance of sound. My only drawback is that there is a lot of information here and I would have liked to know more.
The last chapter is to satisfy the people frightened about sound. It is the quest for silence and do we really want that? Sometimes, a little noise is more soothing than listening to blood pump through your body.
This book is about other sounds, too. Such as the chirping stairs on Mayan pyramids, the ability to whisper in your own ear in the German town of Teufelsberg, and the squeaking of a beach in Australia. The author reveals what sounds are lost such as the dome of the US Capitol when renovated in the late nineteenth century. The then whispering dome could carry a voice elsewhere in the Capitol or turn an orator’s speech into “comical squeals”.
The author explores why a duck’s quack does not echo and what a pipe organ would sound like on Mars. He visits the Whispering Arch in St. Louis Union Station, MO and tries to solve the reason for ice to chirp when hit.
Trevor Cox is a professor of acoustic engineering and the book has numerous experiments he tried on himself and volunteers. Such as walking toward a wall while talking with a friend. Your voice will become louder, then get quieter the closer you come to the wall.
I liked the book because I learned something about the importance of sound. My only drawback is that there is a lot of information here and I would have liked to know more.
The last chapter is to satisfy the people frightened about sound. It is the quest for silence and do we really want that? Sometimes, a little noise is more soothing than listening to blood pump through your body.
June 11, 2014
This British book is an aural tune-up for one's ears. Trevor Cox takes us on a yellow brick road of listening. We learn some of the physics of sonic energy, how to engineer a concert hall, debunks myths (yes, a duck's quack does echo) and whisks us away to audio delights around the globe. I enjoyed Cox's description of entering the quietest room known and the stress of not having everyday sound cues.
I liked the Brit style. I liked the psychology of listening--much of the enjoyment of music, and, say, of bells ringing, is the anticipation of the consonance of the next note or peal. We in the Western world prefer consonance, while much of the Asian world once preferred dissonance. However, now as the world homogenizes, Western popular music (din?) reigns, blares and beats from amped up electronic devices everywhere.
A poll of Londoners revealed that favorite sounds are not man made music, even that of the most vaunted symphony orchestra, but the energy of nature. A birdsong, a meandering creek, wind rustling leaves lightens the load. Listening to everyday world squawk is hard work.
I closed (quietly) the back cover of this just-right-length book, reclined on my bed, gently opened the sash window. Ears tuned, I soaked in the tonal sensations of my back garden.
I liked the Brit style. I liked the psychology of listening--much of the enjoyment of music, and, say, of bells ringing, is the anticipation of the consonance of the next note or peal. We in the Western world prefer consonance, while much of the Asian world once preferred dissonance. However, now as the world homogenizes, Western popular music (din?) reigns, blares and beats from amped up electronic devices everywhere.
A poll of Londoners revealed that favorite sounds are not man made music, even that of the most vaunted symphony orchestra, but the energy of nature. A birdsong, a meandering creek, wind rustling leaves lightens the load. Listening to everyday world squawk is hard work.
I closed (quietly) the back cover of this just-right-length book, reclined on my bed, gently opened the sash window. Ears tuned, I soaked in the tonal sensations of my back garden.
September 23, 2020
No sounds came with this book, but it still managed to be incredibly interesting.
November 23, 2020
Scritto con leggerezza, semplicità e umorismo, questo libro piuttosto voluminoso guida il lettore alla scoperta del mondo dei suoni, quello che ci circonda ma che forse non conosciamo né esploriamo con la dovuta attenzione, dandolo forse troppo per “scontato”. Si parla di fenomeni acustici che si producono in luoghi naturali o, per caso, artificiali (cisterne, cupole radar, fognature; l’autore, un vero e proprio cacciatore di stranezze sonore, riesce a infilarsi ovunque a qualsiasi ora pur di catturarle sui suoi registratori); dei suoni del mondo animale, il frinire delle cicale, i versi dei delfini, delle balene e degli uccelli, eccetera… poi anche delle sculture “acustiche”, che alcuni artisti creano per produrre fenomeni sonori mirati, e molto altro. Una lettura interessante, che si sia fisici, musicisti o semplici curiosi. Peccato per la prefazione del fisico italiano Andrea Frova; è una specie di “spoiler” perché anticipa molti dei casi che saranno illustrati nelle pagine seguenti, senza aggiungere molto altro. Da saltare tranquillamente.
October 19, 2014
Crawling into a disused naval fuel storage tank to measure echoes .... Who knew that world existed and could have such extremes. He shares these wonders easily and makes a good argument for recording the sonic footprint of many of our monuments but also of the everyday that we may find unremarkable now. He would be an interesting companion, possibly a little single mindedly obsessed (he drives one patch of road surface multiple times to perfect his recording), but he'd keep opening that neglected sensory path for evaluation.
December 29, 2015
Fun read from my KFJC point of view (and thanks to Graham Sayles for the nod on this). Pretty amazing stories to start, the cavern organ in Virginia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQqL...
and the quest for longest non-electronic reverb. A couple of KFJC artists make appearances, the amazing Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire and solo work tracking field recordings).
His notion of trees/leaves "whistling" I still don't quite agree with, but I am taking more walks and bike rides WITHOUT headphones on thanks to this book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQqL...
and the quest for longest non-electronic reverb. A couple of KFJC artists make appearances, the amazing Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire and solo work tracking field recordings).
His notion of trees/leaves "whistling" I still don't quite agree with, but I am taking more walks and bike rides WITHOUT headphones on thanks to this book.
August 19, 2014
Lots of interesting sound phenomena from all over the globe. The focus is mostly on naturally occurring sounds/acoustic effects, rather than on music. Cox points out many sound art installations and buildings that I'd like to check out someday. The writing is a bit disjointed; Cox jumps around from topic to topic, dropping trivia and non-sequiturs everywhere. But if you're into acoustics / sonics, it's worth a read.
May 5, 2014
This book is not a gripping narrative, and I would have liked photographs and a CD so I could hear the echoes and reverberations that are discussed, but as a musician I did learn some things about sound and architecture. One thing was why my chorale always sounds so good in the little shoebox-shaped church where we do our Christmas concerts. It's the perfect shape for choral music. And somebody probably knew that when it was built. ;-)
January 22, 2016
Outstanding piece of popular science writing. Describes how things sound (and feel) beautifully, using some evocative examples and stories. Good to have them available online to listen to (sonicwonders.org) but the descriptions are so precise, they're almost not needed.
I thought he got the tone just right - entertaining and on the light side but with enough technical, acoustic and musical detail to guide readers who wish to learn more.
I thought he got the tone just right - entertaining and on the light side but with enough technical, acoustic and musical detail to guide readers who wish to learn more.
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