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12:22 26 September 2012

Books Short Sharp Science

One Per Cent

Mark Changizi, contributor
New Scientist TV
In The Universal Sense, Seth Horowitz makes a compelling case CultureLab
for our most underrated sense
Big Wide World
WOULD you rather be blind or deaf? You would probably quickly
and fervently answer that you'd rather be deaf, if you really had
to choose. Vision is too dear to most people. Hearing on the Bookmark&share
other hand... well, it's boring.

This is a misconception that neuroscientist Seth Horowitz knocks

down in The Universal Sense, in which he sings the praises of
this underrated sense.

The most frequent argument for hearing's importance to humans

is that it is fundamental to our most valued talents and pastimes
- speech and music. That justification, however, is problematic. Categories
The sensation of hearing is universal among vertebrates, but the use of it for speech and music
is uniquely human. What else, then, does hearing offer?
A Spot of Culture
Horowitz shows that there's so much more. Taking examples from the animal kingdom, he
Apps
explains how hearing connects creatures to all the world's good vibrations. From blackboard
scrapes to bats that can hear sounds mere nanometres long, he leads us on a canal tour Architecture
through the ear. Though the book reads a little like a sequence of field trips, Horowitz recounts Art
fascinating anecdotes of how hearing can tell us a great deal about the world - whether or not
Awards
we are paying attention.
Best of 2010
Take, for example, Horowitz's scenario of going to wash your hands. "You'll probably think of the
Books
water splashing in the sink and that's about it," he begins. Then he introduces the possible
signals we unconsciously glean, showing us how hearing adds richness and context to our Comedy
surroundings: "Pay attention to all the sounds. The sound of your footsteps, whether shod in Comics
slippers or socks, padding toward the sink. Did you walk on tile? Is your kitchen echoing with
Communication
each footstep or are you wearing something soft and absorbent that damps it? When you reach
for the faucet handle, do your clothes make a quiet shushing sound? Does the handle squeak a Competitions
bit?" Crafts
It wasn't until I strayed from researching vision into the realms of hearing that I fully appreciated Culture
this subtle and fundamental sense. Horowitz's book, filled with thought-provoking passages and
CultureLab loves…
interesting tidbits, will help everyone better see what they hear. I suspect that, like me, Horowitz
might prefer to be blind than deaf. Dance

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old.frt on September 27, 2012 11:48 PM us about creativity
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nathan on September 28, 2012 2:31 AM August 2011 (44)

i suggest you read some of the quotes on hearing and seeing from Helen Keller, who was both July 2011 (49)
deaf and blind.
June 2011 (51)
as a profoundly deaf psych student, i was suprised to see how mnay people in my classes
May 2011 (43)
would prefer to be blind when a lecturer posed that question
April 2011 (43)

March 2011 (43)

February 2011 (37)

January 2011 (20)

Ram C. Sihag on October 1, 2012 11:01 AM December 2010 (46)

The gist of Seth Horovitz’ book ” The Universal Sense” "Is hearing more important than seeing” November 2010 (41)
needs to be examined biologically. The views seem to hold good under certain situations in the
October 2010 (36)
aquatic and terrestrial animals which have developed organs to produce and receive special
kinds of sound signals. Perceiving the sound signals from the long distances is very common in September 2010 (28)
dolphins and whales, for example, making mating and distress calls and sending sound signals August 2010 (30)
for social hunting. These animals primarily rely on the hearing sense for distant
July 2010 (35)
communications. This is because; the habitat which these animals live in does not support the
vision signals for the distant communications. Bat and elephant are the similar examples of June 2010 (39)

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CultureLab: Is hearing more important than seeing? https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/09/is-hearing-mor...

terrestrial habitat. However, both the latter animals have less acute distant vision. It is not that May 2010 (29)
these animals rely only on hearing. Here, for proximate communications, vision is equally Tags April 2010 (31)
reliable sense. In the terrestrial habitat, seeing is the strongest sense for the distant location of
March 2010 (40)
the friends and foes, for example, for the location of prey by the predator and vice versa. Even
in the night hunters, vision is the most reliable sense for the location of prey. In the prey species, February 2010 (31)
hearing does play a role but only for proximate identification of a predator threat. For distantly January 2010 (31)
located predators, vision is the most effective sense. It is not that I advocate the supremacy of
December 2009 (41)
vision sense over hearing sense. Mother-young relationship across the higher vertebrates is the
glaring example of supremacy of hearing over seeing. The young ones immediately recognize November 2009 (50)
the love-call of their mother and so do the mothers for their young ones’ calls. Here seeing comedycompetition
comes after hearing.
In primates, including human beings, face expressions are the reflections of their emotions
conservation
/mental state that could be read only by seeing. In the light, even if one is not able to hear the
whispers of the mate, the opposite partner can very well read and understand from the face
expressions his/her state of mind. In the dark, where vision fails to convey the message, hearing filmflash fiction
does the job. The world of colours and picturesque beauty of earth can be judged only by seeing
and not hearing. A blind person cannot imagine the beauty of the mate as well as nature foodgenetics
whereas a deaf can do so by actually seeing them. A deaf person would never like to lose his
vision for hearing whereas a blind person would always be ready to accept deafness if his/her
holiday
vision is restored. For our personal efficiency, seeing and hearing are complementary as well as wish listinternetlife
supplementary. Biologically both seeing and hearing have equal importance. However, in Indian
mythology, an aging person praying before the God, always beg for keeping his/her ‘gode-dide’
(knees and eyes) intact. That is the gist of experiences of several thousand human generations
and that speaks of the importance of seeing over hearing.
museum recommendations
Ram C. Sihag

philosophy

harleycowboy on October 3, 2012 4:10 AM

religion science
Test 1. Close your eyes. I will swing my fist at your nose.
fictionsculpturesex
Test 2. Put your fingers in your ears. I will swing my fist at your nose.

Pick one.

unclebryan on October 3, 2012 4:17 AM

I don't know -- they both sound pretty good to me.

George on October 3, 2012 4:37 AM

As a person who just lost hearing in one ear and is now struggling to communicate, the
importance of hearing became all too obvious to me. I tend to agree that hearing is more
important than vision but I wouldn't have said that one year ago.

writeby on October 3, 2012 8:35 AM

"The most frequent argument for hearing's importance to humans is that it is fundamental to our
most valued talents and pastimes - speech and music. That justification, however, is
problematic. The sensation of hearing is universal among vertebrates, but the use of it for
speech and music is uniquely human. What else, then, does hearing offer?"

Bizarre. The topic is about humans preferring one sense to another. I guess that makes the
topic, too, "problematic." (How 'bout we ditch both 'problematic' (for a problem) and 'impact' (for
'affect). I know it doesn't sound as (self-)important, but it's certainly simpler--and, therefore,
clearer.

Jim on October 3, 2012 1:55 PM

Well you don't want to lose either but... as someone with Meniere's disease and now with

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CultureLab: Is hearing more important than seeing? https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/09/is-hearing-mor...

profound hearing loss at the age of 60, I can say that losing your hearing if it has to happen is
much preferred over losing ones sight.

Much preferred, think about it.

codepoke on October 3, 2012 2:04 PM

I live with a fully deaf and partially blind person. The odd thing about deafness is that it's
isolating. She never hears the reassuring sounds of people around her, the feeling of
connectedness. The unspoken reassurance someone's with you, and if you have a problem
someone will be there to help.

If you've ever experienced the unsettling isolation of culture shock, you know something of the
impact of deafness.

Austin Gibbons on October 3, 2012 3:29 PM

I went to law school with a blind person. He had lost his sight in an accident when he was 5 or 6.
I remember asking him about deafness vs blindness. He instantly said he preferred blindness
and he commented (as did an earlier poster) on the isolation of deafness. He said he wouldn't
be in law school if he were deaf.
I know of at least one blind person who became a physician and a Board Certified psychiatrist. I
don't know of a deaf physician--- but it wouldn't surprise me if there were some; the human spirit
is hard to keep down.
On a lighter note and speaking as a guy (probably the same is true of women) and just to stir
the pot. Being blind would radically increase the field of acceptable women. Guys are so sight-
driven in even approaching a woman as a possible wife that it is almost a handicap. There can
be no argument that many exceptional women are less pursued because of some element of
(highly subjective) physical, less-than-eye candy, unattractiveness. Guys are suckers when it
comes to physical beauty. Being blind would make us hear the real person rather than being
distracted by physical attractiveness.

Richard H on October 3, 2012 7:44 PM

Hearing gives us a greater sense of temporality than does sight. We hear sounds sequentially
as they pass by. They don't remain for us to examine as so many of our objects of sight.

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