Siren Songs and Echo’s Response

Towards a Media Theory of the Voice in the Light of Speech Synthesis

  • Christoph Borbach University of Siegen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2016.1114
Keywords: speech synthesis, phonography, voice theory, embodied voices, technotraumatic affects, speaking machines

Abstract

In contrast to phonographical recording, storage, and reproduction of the voice, most media theories, especially prominent media theories of the human voice, neglected the aspect of synthesizing human-like voices by non-human means. This paper takes this lacuna as a starting point for an inquiry into the media theory of (non)human voices under the premise that the epistemological difference between techn(olog)ical voice production and its mere re-production is illuminated by the mythological motifs of the Sirens and Echo, respectively. Interestingly, the interconnection between terror and tempting nonhuman voices, which is implemented in the cultural imaginary through the Sirens’ song, can be identified in the media history of speech synthesis, which challenges the idea(l) of the human voice as an anthropological constant. The main concerns here are to re-read the critique of Derrida’s Of Grammatology and other theories of the human voice in the light of speech synthesis and show how the oft-used term ‘disembodied voice’ is inadequate when it comes to describing phonographical, radiophonic, and telephonic hearing situations.

Author Biography

Christoph Borbach, University of Siegen

Christoph Borbach is a research fellow at the research training group Locating Media at the University of Siegen, where he conducts a research project entitled “Zeitkanäle|Kanalzeiten” (“Time Channels|Channel Times”) on the media history of the operationalization of delay time from a media archaeological perspective. Borbach studied Musicology, Media, and History at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His bachelor’s thesis dealt with radio theories between ideology and media epistemology. For his master’s thesis, he studied the media-technical implementations of echoes. His research interests include media theory of the voice, media archaeology of the echo, operationalization of the sonic, time-critical detection technologies and their visualization strategies, and the occult of media/media of the occult.

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Issue
No 2 (2016): The Nonhuman
Section
_Articles