This American Life: Episode 110, "Five Ways to Map the World"

<1> In Episode 110 of This American Life: "Five Ways to Map the World," the five senses -- sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste -- are discussed through a heightened state of awareness. As humans, our five senses are basic ways through which we perceive the world. They help us survive the myriad dangers which surround us. Since people first walked the earth, those with the most acute senses were the ones most likely to survive. "Five Ways to Map the World" is a revealing comment on the contemporary catatonic state of human awareness and the desensitizing of our society today.

<2> In Act 1 Dennis Wood describes rarely seen ways of viewing everyday life, and constructs a variety of maps using non-traditional geographical markers. The maps are full of refreshingly obsessive detail regarding such things as power lines or the placement of Halloween pumpkins rather than streets or houses. These graphic maps clearly enable one to visualize that which is spoken, thus truly epitomizing the ideal of maps filtering out the urban chaos prevalent in today's world and finding a more discrete form of order in our natural (and constructed) surroundings.

<3> Nancy Updikes's smell study in Act 3, which explores the development and uses of the electronic nose by Cyrano Sciences, portraying the emergence of a fledgling industry rife with potential. I am enticed to keep track of this "nose" and would like to see an attempt made to map regional idiosyncrasies of smell in urban and rural areas, and even in differing temperate zones. An intriguing approach to this sense would be a history of smell throughout the world. What comes to mind are old seafaring tales of how experienced captains were able to navigate in dense fog by variations in smell of the sea air. Having worked as a fishing guide on the west coast of Canada, I can corroborate these distinctions in shoreline smells and in location recognition by, for example, the smell of a river entering the sea. We may, in fact, one day follow maps constructed through the help of an electronic nose...

<4> Act 4 depicts Deb Monroe's personal journey of mapping, or at least handling, her body. Her portrayal as a hypochondriac makes for a beguiling approach and probably gives an accurate description of her journey. To be frank, she is likely not much different from any other human being, whether it be a woman feeling her breasts or a man feeling his penis and testicles. Touching and exploring oneself are normal human experiences and thus this is an intriguing examination of self-exploration and the social constraints and expectations we place on ourselves (that if we're touching ourselves all the time, we must be looking for something).

<5> Jonathan Gold, in Act 5, takes on the Herculean task of tasting specialty dishes in restaurants on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. Having listened to the details I find it not at all surprising that he chose to refine his criteria for restaurant mapping. Mapping this sense is intriguing mainly because the survival of Gold's own taste took him far beyond the mega fast-food merchandisers, who scream out about their uniqueness, yet fail dismally due to the normalcy and blandness of their fare. Such a task sounds daunting, to say the least, and Gold's ability to do what he describes is deliciously admirable.

<6> But it is Act Two, and Toby Lester's attempt to map the ambient sounds in his world, that I find the most interesting. He asks the listener to become more aware of the surrounding soundscape, or sonic environment. Lester uses high-fidelity listening in his low-fidelity work and home environments. Since we do not have "ear-lids," the brain normally does not process all the auditory information it receives. If it did we would be in a state of complete sensory overload. On the other hand, the brain has learned to recognize important cue sounds which help us to survive. For example, if you are outdoors at night, where there could easily be an ambient noise level of about 50 dB(A), and a twig snaps behind you, your brain becomes keenly aware of this sonic change. In ages past, this protective mechanism literally prevented people from being eaten by other animals.

<7> As Lester aptly notes, the majority of people today live within an urban soundscape of buzzing, whirring, and steadily droning tones. We learn to tune out the low-fidelity part of the urban environment because our brain employs a self-defense mechanism: subconsciously it sifts through the low-fidelity ambient noise for any high-fidelity changes, and alerts us to the important differences we need to hear.

<8> As a musician, educator, and researcher, I believe Lester is correct in recognizing that boredom is pervasive in many listeners. Experience tells me that the continual stream of steady noise in our modern soundscape is stultifying our aural acuity and greatly reducing enjoyment of the pleasanter aspects of the soundscape our ears and brain have in fact learned to tune out when there is too much input. We now need to relearn how to listen.

<9> Not only is the incessant nature of the sounds around us desensitizing our brains and ears to the richness of our soundscapes, but the volume is also much higher than many previous generations have had to endure. It is interesting to note that the average nightclub DJ keeps a sound system at about 120 dB(A). In the USA the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a limit of 100 dB(A) for two hours per day, with the duration to be halved for each five-decibel increase. If these limits are not respected permanent hearing loss will occur. As individuals and as a society we are harming our own senses. Regrettably attempts to enforce these codes still meet with the bluff response that noise can be toughed out.

<10> Lester hears what we all hear; yet he has become hyper-aware of his own soundscape. He hears the consonance and dissonance created by everyday objects such as his heating unit and computer at work, and his refrigerator and microwave oven at home. Certainly as I write this piece I have noticed my computer to be sounding an F and my aquarium filter to be bubbling away at about an F an octave apart. Octave-unisons are considered easy and pleasant listening.

<11> I can relate to Lester's search for sonic consonance. In my own research I have made observations of natural resonance, acoustics, and echoes in the United States particularly in the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, Devil's Tower, Mount Pattulo, and various places in Alaska as well as in Canada and Europe. Using the sonic properties of the alphorn, I have developed a hypersensitivity to my soundscapes in mapping echoes throughout the world. I have found that some geographic locations possess what I call "natural pitch-resonance properties." My theory posits that a given air-filled space, having been set in oscillation by an oscillating body, creates a resultant resonance. In other words, a geographic location has an indigenous natural pitch which resonates in that location. On a small scale, this is analogous to finding the strongest fundamental frequency while singing in a small, enclosed space such as a bathroom.

<12> One could therefore take Lester's observations a step further and say that not only can the sounds within a given space be harmonized but the space itself can also be harmonized and literally made in tune. Or with larger outdoor spaces the sounds can be made to be in tune with the space. As Lester strongly points out, from simple lack of awareness we are deadening our senses by becoming tuned out. We do not realize we are closing off our minds to new ways of thinking and feeling, and of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. When we cut ourselves off from our senses we are actually denaturing ourselves, and severing from ourselves part of what it is to be human.

<13> One of the great American thinkers and writers, Henry David Thoreau said, "Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature, if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you, know that the morning and spring of your life are past, thus may you feel your pulse."

<14> "Five Ways to Map the World" should be paid attention to by all who want to revive the pulse of their imaginations and once again sense life to its fullest.

Michael Cumberland