Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An exploration of the production, transmission, and mutation of affective tonality--when sound helps produce a bad vibe.

Sound can be deployed to produce discomfort, express a threat, or create an ambience of fear or dread--to produce a bad vibe. Sonic weapons of this sort include the "psychoacoustic correction" aimed at Panama strongman Manuel Noriega by the U.S. Army and at the Branch Davidians in Waco by the FBI, sonic booms (or "sound bombs") over the Gaza Strip, and high-frequency rat repellants used against teenagers in malls. At the same time, artists and musicians generate intense frequencies in the search for new aesthetic experiences and new ways of mobilizing bodies in rhythm. In Sonic Warfare , Steve Goodman explores these uses of acoustic force and how they affect populations.

Traversing philosophy, science, fiction, aesthetics, and popular culture, he maps a (dis)continuum of vibrational force, encompassing police and military research into acoustic means of crowd control, the corporate deployment of sonic branding, and the intense sonic encounters of sound art and music culture.

Goodman concludes with speculations on the not yet heard--the concept of unsound, which relates to both the peripheries of auditory perception and the unactualized nexus of rhythms and frequencies within audible bandwidths.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Series Foreword (p. vii)
• Acknowledgments (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. xiii)
• 1 1998: A Conceptual Event (p. 1)
• 2 2001: What Is Sonic Warfare? (p. 5)
• 3 2400-1400 B.C.: Project Jericho (p. 15)
• 4 1946: Sonic Dominance (p. 27)
• 5 1933: Abusing the Military- Entertainment Complex (p. 31)
• 6 403-221 B.C.: The Logistics of Deception (p. 35)
• 7 1944: The Ghost Army (p. 41)
• 8 1842: Sonic Effects (p. 45)
• 9 1977: A Sense of the Future (p. 49)
• 10 1913: The Art of War in the Art of Noise (p. 55)
• 11 1989: Apocalypse Then (p. 59)
• 12 1738: Bad Vibrations (p. 63)
• 13 1884: Dark Precursor (p. 69)
• 14 1999: Vibrational Anarchitecture (p. 75)
• 15 13.7 Billion B.C.: The Ontology of Vibrational Force (p. 81)
• 16 1931: Rhythmanalysis (p. 85)
• 17 1900: The Vibrational Nexus (p. 91)
• 18 1929: Throbs of Experience (p. 95)
• 19 1677: Ecology of Speeds (p. 99)
• 20 99-50 B.C.: Rhythm out of Noise (p. 105)
• 21 1992: The Throbbing Crowd (p. 109)
• 22 1993: Vorticist Rhythmachines (p. 113)
• 23 1946: Virtual Vibrations (p. 117)
• 24 2012: Artificial Acoustic Agencies (p. 123)
• 25 1877: Capitalism and Schizophonia (p. 129)
• 26 1976: Outbreak (p. 133)
• 27 1971: The Earworm (p. 141)
• 28 2025: Deja Entendu (p. 149)
• 29 1985: Dub Virology (p. 155)
• 30 1928: Contagious Orality (p. 163)
• 31 2020: Planet of Drums (p. 171)
• 32 2003: Contagious Transmission (p. 177)
• 33 2039: Holosonic Control (p. 183)
• 34 Conclusion: UnsoundùThe (Sub)Politics of Frequency (p. 189)
• Glossary (p. 195)
• Notes (p. 199)
• References (p. 251)
• Index (p. 265)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Dealing with the complex nature of sound, including its affect, this interesting book provides a multifaceted look at using sound aggressively, i.e., to induce discomfort or fear, to threaten, and so on, and also to create new aesthetic experiences. In 34 year-specific (though not chronologically presented) chapters, Goodman (sciences, media, and cultural studies, Univ. of East London, UK) covers the origin, parameters, and context of sonic warfare, including its development, production, transmission, and mutation of affective tonality; its physical vibrational force; its soundscape and impact; matters of environmental and ecological interest; philosophies of vibration and rhythm; and strategies of modal modulation. He also speculates on the not yet heard or "unsound." Particularly interesting are chapters on 1933 ("Abusing the Military-Entrainment Complex"), 403-221 BCE ("The Logistics of Deception"), 1944 ("The Ghost Army"), 1913 ("The Art of the War in the Art of the Noise"), 1900 ("The Vibrational Nexus"), 1929 ("The Throbs of Experience"), 99-50 BCE ("Rhythm out of Noise"), and 2020 ("Planet of Drums"). Well written and including detailed notes, a helpful glossary, and an exhaustive list of references (revealing the vast scope of the literature on sonic warfare), this is a welcome addition to the study of music and acoustics. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, professionals, general readers. M. G. Prasad Stevens Institute of Technology