麻豆传媒

WOULD you rather be blind or deaf? You would probably quickly and fervently answer that you鈥檇 rather be deaf, if you really had to choose. Vision is too dear to most people. Hearing on the other hand鈥� well, it鈥檚 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鈥檚 importance to humans is that it is fundamental to our most valued talents and pastimes 鈥� 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?

Horowitz shows that there鈥檚 so much more. Taking examples from the animal kingdom, he explains how hearing connects creatures to all the world鈥檚 good vibrations. From blackboard scrapes to bats that can hear sounds mere nanometres long, he leads us on a canal tour through the ear. Though the book reads a little like a sequence of field trips, Horowitz recounts fascinating anecdotes of how hearing can tell us a great deal about the world 鈥� whether or not we are paying attention.

鈥淗earing tells us a great deal about the world 鈥� whether we are paying attention or not鈥�

Take, for example, Horowitz鈥檚 scenario of going to wash your hands. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l probably think of the water splashing in the sink and that鈥檚 about it,鈥� he begins. Then he introduces the possible signals we unconsciously glean, showing us how hearing adds richness and context to our surroundings: 鈥淧ay attention to all the sounds. The sound of your footsteps, whether shod in slippers or socks, padding toward the sink. Did you walk on tile? Is your kitchen echoing with 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 bit?鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 until I strayed from researching vision into the realms of hearing that I fully appreciated this subtle and fundamental sense. Horowitz鈥檚 book, filled with thought-provoking passages and interesting tidbits, will help everyone better see what they hear. I suspect that, like me, Horowitz might prefer to be blind than deaf.