The effects of sounds on me physically and emotionally are closely related to the experience I had when I heard the sound before. For example, when I hear the ringing of large bell my breath slows down and my shoulder tends to relax. Emotionally I feel relax, calm, and gradually proceeds to “empty”. This is because I associate the sound of the ringing of bell with my previous experience in temples I have been to. For another example, when I hear the sound of stir frying, I have the impulse to smell whatever that is being cooked because smell indicates the status of the food and whether it is time to add seasoning. Emotionally I also feel a little uptight because I have to watch the food and make the right decision at right time before the food is over-cooked.
New meaning can be attached to sounds that are previously meaningless when a new experience is acquired. For example, the sounds of boxing glove hitting boxing mitts seem identical and are hard to tell if no context is given. However, the more boxing a person does, the more he or she can tell if the hit is powerful and at the right angle from the sound of the hit.
I have listened to the “Suspend 1″in the star trek sounds and I guessed its meaning to be uncertain and dangerous. I then listened to “Red alert” and this time I guessed alert. In many movies, TV-series, and video games alert is often portraited by some combination of sounds from lower pitch rising to higher pitch. In terms of car sounds, I think the sounds of gears, tires, and honks have more meanings than other sounds made by the cars. When I hear a new special sound effect, I first compare it to sound effects I heard before. If there are similar ones I heard before, I will have a similar emotional feel as if I am hearing the similar ones. If it is nothing like anything I have heard before, then I will respond to the volume, rhyme, and texture of the sound effect.
