Phenomenological Topology of Localization Within Sonic Environments

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the phenomenological approach to space. For the main objective of our book, which is to phenomenologically describe and define sonic environments, it is vital to distinguish the phenomenological space from a mere sound-space. We have emphasized already in Chap. 2 that it is not sufficient to analyze sonic environments merely as sound-spaces, that is, environments created by a wide range of different sounds. Sonic environments must be rather understood as lived environments, which consequently leads to accounting not only for sounds (and how they constitute sonic space) but also for both acoustic perception and imagination as factors that co-constitute sonic environments. Based on the phenomenological methodology, this chapter focuses, among other things, on the topological significance of the reversible relation between the emergence of an object (e.g., a sound) and its perception. A brief description of this reversibility makes it possible to explain that perception (including audition) can be understood as localization.