Subject: Re: Annoyance of cell phone use in public spaces From: "O.T.Furnes" <oddtf(at)imt.uio.no> Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 10:14:13 +0200OMard, Lowel P wrote: > > There is another reason why overhearing people using mobile phones are more annoying than hearing face to face conversations, that nobody seems to have mentioned. When overhearing a mobile phone conversation we can only hear one side, whereas eavesdropping on a face to face conversation generally gives us access to both. Being naturally nosey creatures it is of course frustrating to only hear half the conversation. > > > ...Lowel. > > 7. august Michael Norris wrote: _____________________________________________ Guesses: (1:psychoacoustic) if there is only one voice alternating with silence you have to keep readapting and reorienting to the voice, - as with a noise alternating with silence it sounds louder and you are more aware of its position relative to yourself. (2:learned) with a 2-sided conversation we are used to the pattern of intonation and expect an alternation of voices, so hearing one side is unusual, therefore grabs more attention (3:social) speech nearby after silence often signals that someone is trying to open a conversation with you, so you have to keep actively ignoring the social cue. ________________________________________________ -Odd Torleiv Furnes ______________________ Odd Torleiv Furnes Ph.D.student Department of Musicology University of Oslo Norway phone: +4762521667 mail: oddtf(at)imt.uio.no