51茶馆

November 14, 2019

Sonic havens: how we use music to make ourselves feel at home

Music played through headphones can immerse the listener in a more intimate experience.

The concept of 鈥渉ome鈥� refers to more than bricks and mortar. Just as cities are more than buildings and infrastructure, our homes carry all manner of emotional, aesthetic and socio-cultural significance.

Our research investigates music and sound across five settings: home, , , private and .

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We found our interview subjects often idealised home along the lines of what . He suggests, although 鈥渉omes are 鈥� rarely places of complete silence鈥�, we tend to imagine them as 鈥渞efuge[s] from unwanted sound鈥� that offer psychic and perceptual 鈥渘ourishment to us as social beings鈥�.

We explored the ways in which people shape and respond to the home as a set of 鈥溾��. Through 29 in-depth interviews, we examine how people use music and sound to frame the home as a type of 鈥溾��. Erving Goffman coined this term to capture how people respond to the felt 鈥減resence鈥� of an other.

That presence can be linguistic or non-linguistic, visual or acoustic. It can cross material thresholds such as walls and fences. Goffman :

The work walls do, they do in part because they are honoured or socially recognised as communication barriers.

Cultivating sonic havens through music

As we detail in our recent , the type of listening that most closely matches the idea of the home as an aural haven is bedroom listening 鈥� by young people in particular. We found that, as well as offering 鈥渃ontrol鈥� and 鈥渟eclusion鈥�, the bedroom gave listeners a sense of 鈥渢ranscendence鈥� and immersed them in 鈥渄eep鈥� listening. One interview subject said:

When I get a new album 鈥� I like to experience [it] by 鈥� lying down on the floor鈥� I鈥檒l turn the lights off and I鈥檒l just be engaging with the music, my eyes won鈥檛 be open.

Another reported putting on headphones to listen to special selections of music, despite not needing to. 鈥淗eadphones鈥� [is] a more intimate 鈥� kind of thing鈥�, even in a bedroom setting.

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When it came to music in shared spaces and in relation to neighbours, our interview subjects seemed both aware of music鈥檚 visceral powers and keen to respect the territorial or acoustic 鈥減reserves鈥� of others. One young female sharing a house with her mother carefully curated the type of music played, and what part of the house it was played in. Her choices depended on whether her mother was home and whether she had shown interest in particular genres.

All respondents who lived in shared households expressed some kind of sensitivity to not playing music at night.

Another lived by herself in an apartment complex of five. She took deference towards neighbours seriously enough to 鈥渢inker away鈥� on her piano only when she was sure her immediate neighbour wasn鈥檛 home. She 鈥渄idn鈥檛 play the piano much鈥� inside her flat and was only prepared to 鈥済o nuts鈥� playing the piano in halls and other non-domestic settings.

Music as a bridging ritual

Another of our findings accorded with the microsociological focus on how people organise and in everyday life. We found evidence, for example, of how music was used to wake up, or to transition to the weekend, or as a 鈥渂ridging ritual鈥� between work and home.

One interview subject remarked that he is 鈥渄ressed casually anyway鈥� when he returns from work, so his mechanism for shifting to home mode is to listen 鈥渢o music 鈥� pretty much as soon as I get home 鈥� unless I鈥檓 just turning around and going straight somewhere else鈥�. In other words, he associated the boundary between home and non-home with music and the listening rituals of returning home.

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One of the themes in academic literature about media and the home is that electronic and digital media . There is no doubt radio, television and now various digital platforms bring the world 鈥渙ut there鈥� into the immediacy and intimacy of our own domestic worlds. But, as , those sounds can also be used to weave a sonic of domestic comfort, security and routine.

We also found interesting sonic continuities between our homes and how we make ourselves at home in non-domestic settings. As :

Locked in our cars, commutes offer the working woman or man the legitimate equivalent of a teenager鈥檚 bedroom, often complete with stereo system and favourite music.

In short, sonic havens are simply 鈥減laces where we can retreat into privacy鈥�, inside or outside our literal homes.

, Assistant Professor Social Science, and , Honorary Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, 51茶馆,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. 

UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the 51茶馆.