Auditory illusion demonstrations as related to prehistoric cave art and Stonehenge

Abstract

Auditory illusions will be demonstrated, and their relevance to prehistoric cave art and Stonehenge revealed. In the ancient past, when the wave characteristics of sound were not understood, virtual sound effects arising from complex sound wave interactions (echoes, reverberations, interference patterns, etc.) were misinterpreted as invisible beings (echo spirits, thunder gods, sound absorbing bodies, etc.) as described in ancient myths around the world. In this session, live hands-on demonstrations will be given to small groups of students who can experience for themselves these types of auditory illusions. Participants will get to experience various sounds and will be given the task of interpreting what the sounds are, first blindfolded, then with visual cues. (Previous student reactions have included “Whoa!,” “Wow!,” “Amazing!,” “Cool!,” and “What??.”) These scientifically conducted experiments show how various ambiguous sounds can be interpreted in more than one way—like optical illusions—and thus can help in understanding our ancestors’ reactions to sounds they considered mysterious and spooky. These discoveries are just a few examples of research findings that are springing from the new field of Archaeoacoustics. See https://sites.google.com/site/rockartacoustics/ for further examples.