Acousmetre

Acousmetre , according to the definition of the French music theorist and scientist Michel Chion , refers to an off-voice in film, radio and television as well as modern language applications, who seemingly sees and knows everything, is omnipotent and spans rooms. Chion derives the term from acoustics according to Schaeffer , whose sound generating means are neither visible nor identifiable, and mentions the talking computer HAL 9000 from the 2001 film as an example .

According to Chion, the voice-over exercises such a great power over the recipient because it leads him back to the archaic stage of the first months of life in the womb, where hearing is the first of the human senses and the first perceived sounds are the mother's language which also fulfills the properties of an Acousmetre. While seeing is partial and directional, hearing is omnidirectional. We can't see what's behind us, but we can hear in all directions.

literature

• Michel Chion: The Voice in Cinema . Columbia University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-231-10822-2