There's Something in the Air: Sound in the Museum

Sound in museums has been treated in various ways – as unwanted noise, as an educational medium, and as an art object in itself. This chapter outlines a history of museum sound through the introduction of technologies of the phonograph, the radio, audio speakers, and interactive media alongside shifts in the sensory role of listening in the museum. It describes the development of the sound archive and of sound art in the museum and through a series of examples, which include the author's own works, makes an argument for listening as a critical sense for perceiving certain social and material aspects of museum space.