October 13, 2016

October 13, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

There was a time when technology had not yet advanced far enough to combine recorded sound with motion pictures. In these so-called silent movies dramatic music was played to bring the muted play, which was acted out by means of gestures and mime, alive. Also, title cards were showed to explain the plot and to provide fragments of the dialogue.

The first moves with sound were referred to as talkies, sound films or talking pictures and when our technology made synchronization possible film production moved into the sound era in which music and sound effects began to play a bigger and bigger role. Nowadays, we are drowned in and overwhelmed by sound, and it is much more difficult to notice when communicators engage in Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) or in Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) than in the days of the silent movie.

In NVB the sound of the speaker’s voice is experienced by the listener as an aversive stimulus, but in modern movies that sound is enhanced by sound effects much more than the SVB speaker. The listening behavior of movie goers has been shaped by the sound of coercion and violence.

A similar phenomenon has occurred in our news reporting and in many other TV programs. Newsreaders and actors produce increasingly more hyped up and demanding sounds and yank audience experiences around from one sensation to the next. Everyone demands our attention.

When actors in shows say something funny, we hear canned laughter. There are attention-grabbing commercials which interrupt any kind of ongoing dialogue. Due to NVB, we are constantly distracted by what we hear (and see). We think we are entertained, but we are conditioned to trivialize the vital importance of calmness, continuity and attunement.