Essay 5 - Listening Beyond the Ear

Essay 5 – Listening Beyond the Ear | Where Art Meets Science | Dyon Scheijen (2026)

The study of sound has long been primarily a study of physics. Frequencies, amplitudes, and acoustics describe how sound travels through space and reaches the ear.

However, in practice, it turns out that people rarely suffer from the sound itself. They suffer from the way the sound is experienced and interpreted by their brain.

Two people can find themselves in the same sound environment yet have a completely different experience. That difference does not arise in the air, but in the interaction between sound, the brain, and human life.

Listening therefore requires more than just the ear. It requires an understanding of the brain and of the human experience in which sound acquires meaning.

Where Art Meets Science

The Hearing Triptych

Sound · Brain · Human Experience

Essay 5

Listening Beyond the Ear

Towards a broader understanding of sound perception

When we try to understand sound, we often start with the physical world.

Sound waves travel through the air, reach the ear, and are conducted to the brain via the auditory system. This description forms the basis of classical audiology and has given us much insight into how the auditory system functions (Pickles, 2012).

However, in practice, it turns out that this approach does not fully explain how people experience sound.

Two people can be exposed to the same noise level, while their experience is completely different.

One person hardly notices the sound.

For the other person, the same sound can become a constant source of tension.

This observation is not unique to tinnitus or low-frequency sound. Within research into noise nuisance, it has long been described that the relationship between sound level and perceived nuisance is only partially explained by the sound itself (Basner et al., 2014).

This suggests that the human experience of sound arises within a more complex system.

Sound, brain and human

In the previous essays, we have seen how the experience of sound arises at the intersection of three dimensions.

The sound itself, as a physical stimulus.

The brain, which determines which stimuli receive attention and which fade into the background.

And the human being, with his life, emotions, expectations, and context.

Within neuroscience, increasing attention is being paid to brain networks that determine which stimuli become relevant to the brain. The so-called salience network plays a central role in this (Menon, 2015; Uddin, 2015).

At the same time, psychological models show how attention, interpretation, and avoidance behavior can reinforce experienced suffering (Vlaeyen & Linton, 2000).

Therefore, within clinical tinnitus research, efforts are often made to change the relationship a person has with the sound, for example within cognitive behavioral therapy (Cima et al., 2011).

Together, these insights show that tinnitus and noise nuisance cannot be fully understood from a single perspective.

An integrative perspective

The Hearing Triptych can be seen as an attempt to bring these different perspectives together.

Not as a replacement for existing models, but as a way to make their interrelationships visible.

The neurophysiological model of tinnitus emphasizes the role of auditory signals and limbic systems (Jastreboff, 1990).

Neuroscientific models emphasize how the brain determines which stimuli receive attention (Menon, 2015).

Psychological models show how attention, anxiety, and avoidance can reinforce experienced suffering (Vlaeyen & Linton, 2000).

When these insights are viewed together, a broader perspective emerges in which tinnitus and noise nuisance can be understood as phenomena arising at the intersection of:

sound · brain · human

Where Art Meets Science

In this essay series, the image of a triptych has been used to explore this idea.

In art, a triptych tells a story that unfolds across multiple panels.

No single panel can carry the story alone.

Only when all panels are visible does meaning emerge.

Perhaps the same applies to the science of hearing.

No single discipline holds the complete answer.

But when different perspectives come together, a richer understanding of how people experience sound emerges.

An invitation

The Hearing Triptych is not an endpoint.

It is an invitation to further exploration.

An invitation not only to measure sound, but also to understand it.

To listen not only to the auditory signal, but also to the brain that gives meaning and to the person who lives with that sound.

Perhaps that is precisely where the key lies to a better understanding of tinnitus, noise nuisance, and the way people experience their auditory world.

Literature

Basner, M. et al. (2014).

Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. The Lancet.

Cima, RFF et al. (2011).

A multidisciplinary cognitive behavioral approach to tinnitus. The Lancet.

Jastreboff, PJ (1990).

Phantom auditory perception (tinnitus): mechanisms of generation and perception. Neuroscience Research.

Menon, V. (2015).

Salience Network. Annual Review of Neuroscience.

Pickles, JO (2012).

An Introduction to the Physiology of Hearing.

Uddin, LQ (2015).

Salience processing and insular cortical function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Vlaeyen, JWS, & Linton, SJ (2000).

Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic pain. Pain.