Introduction - Hearing Is More Than Ears
- Art of Hearing | Dyon Scheijen
- Mar 24
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 26
When we speak of sound, we usually start by measuring. Decibels, frequencies, and graphs seem to give us an objective picture of the world of sound. Yet, anyone who works with people experiencing tinnitus or noise nuisance soon realizes that these measurements tell only part of the story. The experience of sound originates not only in the ear, but in the complex encounter between sound, brain, and human.
Where Art Meets Science
The Hearing Triptych
Sound · Brain · Human Experience
Introduction
Hearing Is More Than Ears
Why sound cannot be understood by decibels alone
When we talk about sound, we often start by measuring.
Decibels.
Frequencies.
Graphs.
It is understandable. Sound is a physical phenomenon, and physics has given us powerful tools to describe it. In many disciplines - from acoustics to environmental health - the noise level still forms the starting point for assessing nuisance.
However, anyone who works daily with people living with tinnitus or noise nuisance soon notices that this approach tells only part of the story.
Sometimes even a small part.
In clinical practice, it regularly happens that two people are exposed to exactly the same sound, while their experience is completely different.
Some hardly notice it.
The other person can no longer sleep because of it.
That raises a fundamental question:
Where does the human experience of sound originate?
The problem of decibels
In many disciplines, noise nuisance is often linked to noise level. The higher the number of decibels, the greater the perceived nuisance.
But everyday life shows that it is not that simple.
A soft sound can completely throw someone off balance, while a much louder sound sometimes barely bothers anyone. The difference then lies not in the sound itself, but in the meaning attributed to it.
A well-known example is rain gently tapping on the roof of a camper during a vacation. Acoustically, that sound can reach a considerable level. Yet, many people experience it as soothing.
The same noise level can actually be perceived as disturbing in a different context.
So the difference is not just in the sound.
Hearing does not happen in the ear alone
Auditory science has taught us that hearing is not a passive process.
Although sound waves are picked up by the ear, the actual perception originates in the brain. There, signals are filtered, interpreted, and connected with attention, emotion, and meaning (Jastreboff 1990).
The brain constantly determines:
which sound is important
which sound can be ignored
and which sound fades into the background.
This dynamic explains why a ticking clock is often no longer noticed after a few minutes, whereas the same sound in a quiet bedroom can suddenly seem all-encompassing.
The brain therefore does not only create a representation of sound.
It also gives meaning to it.
The person behind the sound
But even the brain does not yet tell the full story.
The way sound is experienced is deeply intertwined with the life of the person hearing it. Stress, fatigue, sleep, attention, and emotions all play a role.
Two people with the same auditory stimulus can therefore have a completely different experience.
One person can let the sound be.
The other person becomes trapped in a constant struggle with that same sound.
At that moment, an auditory perception changes into a human experience.
And sometimes even in suffering.
A triptych
To understand this complexity, I use an image from art.
In painting, a triptych consists of three panels that together tell a single story. When one panel remains closed, the whole becomes difficult to understand. Only when all panels are visible does meaning emerge.
Such a triptych seems to exist for hearing as well.
In this essay series, this perspective is described as The Hearing Triptych (Scheijen, 2026), a conceptual framework in which the experience of sound is understood as an interaction between sound, brain, and human context.
The first panel is the sound itself – the physical stimulus.
The second panel is the brain – which interprets the sound and gives it meaning.
The third panel is man – with his life, emotions, and context.
Together, these three dimensions form what we ultimately experience as sound.
Or, in some cases, as tinnitus or noise nuisance.
Where Art Meets Science
The relationship between art and science might seem unexpected at first glance. Yet both disciplines have always tried to answer the same question: how can we better understand the world?
Science does that by analyzing, measuring, and explaining.
Art does that by making visible what is difficult to capture in words.
The triptych accompanying this essay series originated from that thought. Not as an illustration, but as a way to explore an idea.
The idea that hearing is not just a physical process.
But an encounter between sound, brain, and human.
The question that follows
When we approach tinnitus or noise nuisance solely from the perspective of the sound itself, we may miss an important part of the story.
After all, the human experience of sound arises from the interaction between three dimensions:
sound · brain · human
In the essays that follow, we therefore open this triptych step by step.
We start with the brain.
Regarding the question of how the brain determines which sound becomes important and which sound can fade into the background.
A process known in neuroscience as salience (Menon, 2015; Uddin, 2015).
And that possibly forms a key to understanding both tinnitus and low-frequency sound.
Where Art Meets Science
Sound · Brain · Human Experience
Literature
Jastreboff, P. J. (1990). Phantom auditory perception (tinnitus): mechanisms of generation and perception. Neuroscience Research.
Scheijen, D. (2026). The Hearing Triptych: Sound · Brain · Human Experience. Conceptual framework.
Menon, V. (2015). Salience network. Annual Review of Neuroscience.
Uddin, L. Q. (2015). Salience processing and insular cortical function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
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