Sound perception as a potential for new communicative patterns

Abstract

We aim to show that the perception of the chaotic aspect of the sound mediatic environment is a potency to generate new communicational patterns. For this, we explore the relation between sonority, particularly, music, and indetermination. Indetermination– whether it is by chance or by chaos – seems to be pointed out as a trigger of cognitive changes to both Peirce’s semiotics and of Deleuze and Guattari’s thought, our theoretical basis. First, we investigate, from the viewpoint of neurophysiology, how an organized sonority can emerge from a chaotic environment. Further, we try to understand the work of Cage and Boulez, showing the chance and indetermination as a potential to think music. So we put the above mentioned in relation to Peirce’s semiotics and the plane of immanence, a concept from Deleuze and Guattari. Finally, we try to suggest ways to make communication effective, from the viewpoint of sonority, to make it able to deal with listening in a noisy media environment and thus produce cognitive changes.

Keywords: sound perception, Peirce’s semiotics, virtuality, mediatic environment, indetermination, cognition.