Tinnitus, Auditory Knowledge and the Arts

Workshop activity: Keeping Score

This activity involved translating the sound of tinnitus into a ‘word-sound’ that is then used to create a visual score or sound recording. The activity responses give some insight into how the sound of tinnitus can vary.

Recordings:

Please note: the following sound recordings contain audio representations of the sound or feeling of tinnitus. These sounds might be unpleasant for some listeners, including some people with tinnitus. Each recording has an accompanying text description that gives more information about the sounds that can be heard.

A person making vocal sounds: starting low, becoming higher and then holding a mid-range sustained note that fades out towards the end

 

A person making a soft, sustained ‘chhh’ sound

 

A person making a high pitched ‘ssssss’ sound with their voice

Visual scores:

(click image to view)

 
moving slightly upwards, along the centre of the page from left to right, is a series of ascending and descending wave formations, drawn in pencil, that can at times look like the letter ‘m’.
this score represents the person’s tinnitus in relation to ipa (international phonetic alphabet) symbols. It offsets these against ‘world sounds;. the former, revolving around the symbols ʃ, m and d3, is described as ‘kn’, ‘ch’, ‘whirr’, ‘mmm’, ‘rr’, in blue, green and red ink. tinnitus is described in relation to the symbols 3, 2, 5 and ʃ, in the same combination of colours.
this score is typed up on a computer and is presented as if a play, with instructions like ‘fade in’ and ‘enter tinnitus’. it is a phonetic representation of the tinnitus they experience, with dense passages of ‘eeeeeee’ ‘EEEEEEEE’, ‘WEEEEEEEE’ and ‘wwwwwwwweeeeeeeee’.
a wavy figure of three triangles is repeated for two lines. below this, the text reads 'Shuuuusheeeehshuuuuushsheeshuuuuush'
the letter e is repeated to form a knotted pattern; the letters go in a straight line before folding below and over themselves
a drawing of a bottle, coloured in green, with the letter 's' fizzing out and surrounded by blue dots
tited 'Tinnitus when i'm trying to watch a favourite TV programme, with the letter 'E' repeated in different typefaces in yellow and red.
handwritten text in pencil on white paper reads: HUM HUM HUM HUM HUM HUM SQUEAK HUM HUM HUM squeak. the word hum varies in size
Picture of a wavy row of letters spelling the word hiss
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