Sound is the central point of the book by Truax who is famous in the world of acoustics. Truax (2000) sees sound as one of the forms in which people can exchange messages and either obtain or transfer information about certain phenomena of reality: “The communicational significance of any sound can only be judged within its complete context in the broadest environmental, social and cultural sense.” (Truax, 12) Consequently, sounds can be useful and pollutant for the acoustic communities. According to Truax (2000), the nature sounds is understood from the context in which they are used. Thus, sound intrusion can be defined as the sound which is “perceived or understood as not belonging or inappropriate to a given sound environment, and thereby a contributor to sound pollution.
I had the chance to experience the influence of sound intrusion when I was a member of the acoustic community while living in a rented flat in a multi-story building. The community was already accustomed to the sounds environment that was present in the house, but its close location to the road contributed to much noise from cars driving and pedestrians walking every morning and evening by the house. This sound intrusion was evident because the noise from the road belonged to the interests of neither of the house inhabitants. At first, people were nervous about the sound intrusions but over the course of time, as Truax (2000) argues, they got used to the noise and those who did not decide to install soundproof windows in their apartments. The only people who did not consider the road noise intrusion were the drivers who also rented 3 flats in the house. They work in a noisy environment and such noise is not intrusive for them as representatives of a separate acoustic community.
Works Cited
Truax, Barry. Acoustic Communication (Second Edition). Ablex Publishing, 2000.