Abstract

What is noise? A tumultuous crowd is noisy or, more cheerfully, a group of students on holiday, or a flock of migrating birds. A loud conversation or loud laughter can be noisy if we are reading a philosophy article, or we are performing a physics experiment, or we are concentrating on a yoga exercise. In all such cases, noise is something that others do and that we unwillingly suffer, something that we perceive as an invasion of our perceptual space, or an interference with it.2 We instinctively associate noise with an idea of impediment, or obstacle—with a source of distraction that prevents us from accomplishing the task or occupation we are focusing on. These associations are confirmed by dictionary...