Spectres & Camouflage: The Sound of Silence

Spectres & Camouflage: The Sound of Silence

Principal Investigator: (opens in a new window)Assoc. Prof. Fiona Smyth

Funding: European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant

Project coordinator: (opens in a new window)Dr Jenny Devine

Research scientist: (opens in a new window)Autumn Brown

Project timeframe: 1 Jan 2023 – 1 Jan 2028

Twitter: (opens in a new window)@Spectres_Camo

Web:(opens in a new window) https://spectres-camouflage.com

Silence is a rare - often beautiful, sometimes discomfiting - phenomenon. Harnessed in different ways, silence has cultural, societal, scientific, psychological, artistic and military implications.
The 20th century saw a technological search for the soundless environment, a search which centred upon environmental control and design. Collaboration and knowledge-sharing across disciplines and nations led to the development of a technology which ultimately became known as ‘anechoic’ (free from echo). By the 1950s, anechoic chambers were ubiquitous, utilised in different ways and for a broad range of purposes in multiple nations.
(opens in a new window)Spectres & Camouflage explores the knowledge-sharing that took place across nations and disciplines which propelled the design and construction of anechoic chambers. It examines the interplay between architecture, design, music and the military in the development of a soundless environment.