Radio: The Psychology Of An Art Of Sound

by Rudolf Arnheim, Herbert Read (Translator)

Arnheim treats all aspects of sound. He explores words and music as kinds of sounds; discusses direction and distance, spatial resonance, sequence and juxtaposition in radio sound; makes comparisons between sound film and radio techniques and effects; and details the benefits of imagination with sound from a creative and emotional point of view. The art of announcing, the psychology of the listener, and two generalized discussions of radio around the world, and the prospects for television are covered in the last chapters.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Rudolf Arnheim (1904–2007) was a German-born author, art and film theorist, and perceptual psychologist. He learned Gestalt psychology from studying under Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler at the University of Berlin and applied it to art. His magnum opus was his book Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye (1954). Other major books by Arnheim have included Visual Thinking (1969), and The Power of the Center: A Study of Composition in the Visual Arts (1982). Art and Visual Perception was revised, enlarged and published as a new version in 1974, and it has been translated into fourteen languages. He lived in Germany, Italy, England, and America. Most notably, Arnheim taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan. He has greatly influenced art history and psychology in America.