UC San Diego

Regularity. Continuity. Consistency. Perpetually. Mechanized sound has characteristics, which are fundamentally different than that of the natural world. Forming an increasingly present sonic wallpaper, the inherent features of mechanized sound have had a dramatic effect upon human behavior. Increased use and reliance on machines have perpetuated a great transformation in the sonic environment of daily life towards the omnipresence of mechanized sound. The beginnings of this transformation took place in the immersion of workforces in the early textile factories. In September 1846 in Hartford, Connecticut, Elias Howe patented the automated sewing machine. Shortly thereafter sewing factories developed, employing a generation of young women. An environment was created that was comprised primarily of mechanized sound. The people who worked in these factories where some of the first people to be immersed entirely in a mechanized sonic world. The uniqueness of this situation lies in this generation's perspective between listening to a world, which was exclusively natural to that which is a mixture between natural and mechanized sound. Natural and behavioral expectations and habits informed by sound had to be adjusted to the new environment. The sonic perspective of this generation, its effects on their listening habits, and its ramification on their daily life will be explored