HOW SOUND IS PERCEIVED
Recent years have seen much discussion about acoustic pollution due to maximum limits being exceeded in many of our large towns and cities. The ear is in fact an extremely complex and sensitive organ, the correct functioning of which depends on a delicately balanced procedure. Sound waves are picked up by the ear auricle and then amplified before they hit the tympanic membrane making it vibrate.

Once internalised, the vibrations are in turn relayed by a series of tiny bones, the hammer, anvil and stirrup, to the delicate spiral structure which goes by the name of 'cochlea'. It is at this point that special cells effect the conversion of vibrations into impulses which travel to the brain via the auditory nerve.

This delicate balance can be upset by sounds which are too loud or too persistent which also affect the central nervous system, and the result? Headache, memory loss and a slowing down of the reflexes.

Defending our hearing from noise excess is therefore very important but we must not go overboard as too much silence can also be damaging. We are so used to perceiving sound that the absence of noise can easily send us off cue.

Absolute silence can indeed create feelings of anxiety and make us lose any sense of time, disorienting our system. It is also true that noise itself is what provides the necessary stimuli for creating new sonorities to be used in a musical context.

The word "Sound" is defined as "a sense related phenomenon concerning the hearing apparatus, consisting of a periodic vibration in the surroundings, within a certain frequency range" (between 20 and 20,000 Hz).
The study of sound takes into consideration not only its transmission but also how it is captured (recording) and reproduced; its properties are divided into height (vibration frequency), intensity (vibration amplitude) and timbre (harmonic components which are added to the fundamental).

The creation of a musical composition is often sparked by a stimulus which arises from listening to a single pleasing tone; depending on the choice of tonality we obtain different effects which, acting on the psyche, provoke mood alterations and variations.

If these events take place, the atmosphere created by particular the succession of sounds will be perceived to be agreeable and the composer will have achieved his objective. It is for this precise reason that most of the composers in the Virtual Audio Project team are also the actual programmers of the single sounds used in their compositions; they are backed up by other expert sound programmers who combine their experience with that of the composer to transform each composition into a stimulating and exciting adventure. Too much silence can also be damaging.