Do Theremins Have Politics? Or: From the “Theremin of the Deaf” to the Bionic Sense of Hearing
Presenter: David Friedrich (University of Western Australia).
Abstract
In 2018, the Theremin of the Deaf was introduced to challenge our understanding of sound and hearing. Connected via a Bluetooth link with a cochlear implant (CI), a state-of-the-art hearing device implanted in the head of its user, this musical instrument was designed to generate a sound (Klang) without any acoustics involved. However, sound without dancing air molecules is no big deal since Karlheinz Stockhausen’s studio for electroacoustics at the WDR (West German Broadcast). Or is it? If sound is generated without mechanical waves, such as the Theremin of the Deaf does, why is it still called electro-acoustics? What does the media performance of the Theremin for the Deaf disclose?
The neurotechnology CI does not simply alter the sense of hearing due to its technological implementation. It enables users to perceive a soundscape beyond acoustics; an audible perception of electromagnetic fields that have only occurred in non-human organisms and machines. Whereas most discourses about the CI mainly focus on the acoustic-driven speech processor, sitting on the outside of the user’s head, a critical examination of the implanted receiver-stimulator is missing. This leads to the assumption that hearing via CI is only provoked by acoustic events. However, this stands in contrast to the actual sensation via the implanted part of the CI. Based on Mara Mills' “Do Signals Have Politics?”, it will be shown how the CI discloses an entangled relationship between our understanding of sound and the sense of hearing. Moreover, it will be revealed which cultural and economic values are embodied in the implanted CI and why open source should be a human right in the realm of neurotechnologies.
Material
Mara Mills: Do Signals Have Politics?