Do you remember what one of these sounds like?
How about one of these?
There’s an online museum based in Germany that wants to make sure that we don’t forget the sounds of days – and devices – gone by. It’s called “Conserve the Sound,” and they are actually taking suggestions for sounds that you may remember from your childhood but may be vanishing. Right now their gallery is full of typewriters, rotary phones, cameras and analog clocks, but they also have a hand-crank car window, a mechanical postage scale, and even a Viewmaster!
Scientists say that, next to smell, hearing is the most powerful human sense for connecting to memory; just think of all of the memories that flood your brain when you hear a song or a piece of music that you love (or even one that you hate!). I don’t know about you, but to me, in a world that’s becoming more and more full of electronic beeps and blips, there’s something comforting and reassuring about the sound of a hand-cranked egg beater or the manual transmission in a VW Beetle.
What sounds conjure up memories for you?
