Un-silencing an Experimental Technique

Listening to the Electrical Penetration Graph

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5409156
AutoresOwen Marshall (0000-0003-3477-2618, Cornell University, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume47
Fascículo5
Páginas1011-1032
Data de publicação2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/01622439211023552
OpenAlexW3176364458
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas29

In scientific work, sonification (i.e., the use of nonspeech audio to convey information) is primarily thought of as a novel way to communicate post hoc research findings to lay audiences but only rarely, if ever, as a component of the research itself. This article argues that, rather than any inherent epistemological limitations of sound as a medium of scientific reasoning, this framing reflects a sociohistorical tendency to "silence" experimental techniques as they become widely adopted-both in terms of the literal silencing of noisy instrumentation and the elision of the role of sound (along with other nonvisual sensory media) in received discovery accounts. This tendency is well-illustrated by the history of electrophysiology research, particularly the case of the electrical penetration graph (EPG), an instrument used by entomologists to study how insects feed on plants. Combining participant observation, interviews, and analysis of EPG technical literature, this article recovers the unacknowledged role of sound in EPG's exploratory stages and gradual emergence as a standard laboratory technique as well as its gradual silencing as a consequence of this standardizing process

Acoustics · Active listening · Aesthetics · Art · Cognitive science · Silence · Soundscape · Animal and Plant Science Education · Communication · Computer Science · Plant and Biological Electrophysiology Studies · Psychology