Chapter ID: CBB001421321

Forced Listening: The Contested Use of Loudspeakers for Commercial and Political Messages in the Public Soundscape (2012)

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Beginning in the late 1920s, loudspeaker technology transformed the American soundscape. Through applications such as storefront radios, sound trucks, and transcast radio in modes of public transportation, advertisers, political parties, and religious organizations used this new medium to capture and hold the attention of nearby listeners. Seeking to expand upon existing theoretical models by scholars such as Jacques Attali and Karin Bijsterveld, this piece focuses on sound trucks and the contested use of soundscapes by powerful interest groups and organizations for the delivery of amplified commercial and political oratory. As sound trucks became widespread, unwilling listeners quickly pushed for their regulation arguing that freedom of speech did not invest the speaker with the right to force the attention of captive audiences nor to invade others' sonic privacy. These debates culminated in two U.S. Supreme Court cases in 1948 and 1949.

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Book Keeling, Kara; Kun, Josh (2012) Sound Clash: Listening to American Studies. unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001421321/

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Authors & Contributors
Brian Hochman
Alexander Trauth-Goik
Agnieszka Rychwalska
Jean-François Fava-Verde
Andrzej Nowak
Bernhard, Robert J.
Concepts
Technology and society
Communication technology
Technology and government
Privacy
Surveillance
Broadcasting, radio and television
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
19th century
Modern
Places
United States
Weimar Republic (1919-1933)
Argentina
Germany
Europe
China
Institutions
Facebook (firm)
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