A New Name for an Old Social Pain Federico Miyara Federico Miyara is the Director-Coordinator of the Acoustics and Electroacoustics Laboratory, National University of Rosario, Argentina . There it was, once more, that noise. But we should first attempt a definition.
Acoustic violence is just violence exercised by means of sound.
Often, such sound will be loud noise, but it might also be the neighbor's music going through the party wall or the constant hum of a busy city late in the night while one is trying to fall asleep. Even though actual forces involved in sound waves are very small, they are not so small if we consider the tiny mechanism of the inner ear on which they are ultimately impinging. To be sure, acoustic violence may cause all of them, as well as unease, discomfort and helplessness, under proper conditions. Note that intentionally is not necessary in order that violence exists. The same can be said of acoustic violence.