First and Last Sounds: Messages Beyond Language

Abstract

We remind ourselves of the variations of global voices, and we come to the smallest sounds defining a place, a person or a time. We revisit the moment of the first transatlantic wireless signal, to underline how a single morpheme may be the key to unlock a revolution. Radio producers share their experiences of catching an essence from the passing air. There is sound caught inadvertently that may be more significant than the object of a recording, history captured as it were, in the corner of the ear. Sound may take us back to childhood, and if it is true that it is the first sense to awaken at birth, and the last to desert us when we die, then it is indeed the gatekeeper of life.