Dear Professor Justice,

When I had to communicate with sound, I had to be creative. It took me a while

to decide on what my sonic warning would be. At first, I thought of very brief sonic

warnings. The first ones that came to mind were school bells and fire alarms. Although

these sounds convey a unique message, and elicit action, they would be lackluster for

this sonic warning assignment. With the thirty second length requirement, a school bell

is too short and a fire alarm is too repetitive. I ended up deciding to create a 30 second

clip of a tornado starting. This included whistling wind, rolling thunder, heavy rain,

rustling leaves, and a tornado siren. I hadn’t created an audio in so long, and creating

this sonic warning was fun in a way. Conveying a message using zero words made me

rethink the different modes of communication.

Sonic rhetoric is a fascinating topic to dive into. I never realized the ways in

which people have been conditioned to associate sounds with certain warnings. Certain

sounds indicate necessary actions such as a new hour starting, class period transitions,

or putting your seatbelt on. All of these sounds are meant to keep the listener safe, or

make them aware of something. Another interesting aspect of sonic rhetoric is that the

sounds vary geographically. When I visited Italy I realized that police sirens in America

are different from Italian ones. It makes me wonder how many other sounds vary from

country to country. I also thought about who created these sounds. My sonic warning

consisted of natural sounds for the most part, but I’m sure the origins of many different

sirens and alarms stemmed from consequences of horrific events that had no warnings.

It makes sense that there are specific sounds that indicate specific warnings.

Humans end up developing an internal soundboard after hearing sonic warnings

throughout life. There were no formal classes to teach these sounds but the context led
us to create mental categories of them. Many sonic warnings also have a visual

component, making them noticeable for people who are deaf. Sirens are usually

accompanied by flashing lights, and the colors of the lights are also distinct. Police

sirens always have red, white and blue lights, while fire alarms have bright white lights.

The design of these sonic warnings is a form of technical communication that I would

not have thought about before taking this course.

When creating my sonic warning, I knew the sounds I wanted to include. Once I

started creating the warning, I had to decide when I wanted each sound to come in. I

wanted the tornado to intensify as the audio continued, and most of all I wanted it to

sound natural. I decided to have every component fade in, other than the tornado siren.

At first each sound addition was abrupt and the audio was choppy. One addition that

was not included in the final version was the sound of a falling ceiling. Every sound

effect I found was too extreme for my liking. I would have created my own ceiling sound

if I had the ability to.

With more time, I would have edited the audio more, maybe adding more

components. That might not have improved the audio though. I can be a bit of a

perfectionist when it comes to digital media. I feel like once I have a good idea of my

concept, ideas start flowing. I feel as if I came to a good stopping point and my sonic

warning sounds realistic. Overall, this assignment was enlightening and enjoyable.

Sincerely,

Erin Shields