ABSTRACT
Imagine not hearing the familiar sound of your children’s footsteps around the house; imagine not being able to hear wine glasses clinking when toasting, the sound of spoons stirring sugar in tea, or the window creaking in the wind. The perception of ourselves, of others close to us, of the world surrounding us relies greatly on our ability to unconsciously judge and direct our attention to these highly mundane sounds. They are the sounds of movements, of our interaction with objects and people, the sounds of a life that is happening. They signal to us that there is life in and around us. These are the sounds of immediacy and of physical presence. Because these are the sounds of life, of what is happening now, in the context of cinema or television they inhabit the space of the characters and allow the audience to share with them the sensorial, embodied, and human attributes of that space. These sounds allow us to feel through the characters’ actions and, by doing so, share their emotions.
