Response to: Michel Chion's Audio- Vision

I have a very difficult time understanding and agreeing with Michel Chion in his explanation of the three listening modes he describes in chapter two of his text, Audio-Vision. I believe he is trying to separate the processing of sounds by humans into three categories. In theory some delineation could be made between the various types of listening but in reality human brains are so much more complex. Toward the end of the chapter he does describe this very idea that multiple types of listening occur simultaneously but I sense that Chion believes that he can unlock more hidden meaning or depth to sound over image. I feel like many who have their sight think that there is more to reveal from the sounds than the image.

Confusion over the listening modes aside, Chion also notes that “sound more than image has the ability to saturate and short-circuit our perception.” I do not see a difference in the ability for either sound or image to alter our notions of the cues we pick up from those senses. Perhaps I am more biased as a photographer but I believe that just as Chion described how the sound can make us “see” something that would not be in the image, the image could make us hear something that would not be in the recording. In broader terms I feel that any of our senses can be tricked by one of the other senses and ultimately lead us astray. This departure from what is real and what we think is real is just an imperfection of our ability to process sensory information.