Since you can't see sound he considered it a difficult subject and so for about 30 years was occupied in making sound visible. With the advance of technology, they began to see the origin and the transmission of sound. Applying this principle in reverse we can make sound heard in any place we wish or prevent its transmission, of course with the limitations of time and space. An example: in a car, the driver can hear the sound of the navigation instrument, in the back seat one can be watching a movie and the person on the seat beside the driver can be listening to music.
When he was beginning the study of acoustics he had many questions and after a class, he approached the professor with his questions and was invited to go to the lab with him. The professor told him he will begin with the simplest first. What would that be?
When
we read from the Scriptures we come in contact with many parables. In
the Old Testament, we use a map of the times to understand the situation
but often it's difficult to make sense of what we read. But just like
the study of acoustics one has to begin slowly from the first steps.
There
are 3 aspects to sound: origin, diffusion, hearing. We have the making
of sound: whistling, clapping one's hands, etc. with the movement of the
air and the vibrations we have sound without the air no sound.
When
we have barriers to the vibrations of sound we have different forms
that reach the hearer. A small barrier will scatter the sound slightly,
with a larger barrier we have greater diffraction, when the obstacle is
extremely large we have reflection and transmission phenomena appearing.
When the vibrations enter the ear it collects the vibrations
and sends them to the ear canal where the sound is amplified. From there
the sound waves travel toward a flexible, oval membrane at the end of
the ear canal called the eardrum. Sound waves cause the eardrum to
vibrate and move three small bones again to reach the cochlea in which
the ciliary cells like small piano keys are arranged.
The sound
waves enter the inner ear and then into the cochlea, a snail-shaped
organ. The cochlea is filled with a fluid that moves in response to the
vibrations. As the fluid moves, nerve endings are set into motion. These
nerve endings transform the vibrations into electrical impulses that
then travel along the auditory nerve to the brain. The brain then
interprets these signals, and this is how we hear.
Depending on
the space, the shape of the sound is also different. Echo is created by
numerous reflections. If you like to sing while showering in the
bathroom, you can see that you are enjoying the sound you make. A
concert hall for which there is an admission fee becomes like a bathroom
that makes a good sound to hear.
When you read the psalms or
gospels of the Bible, God's word can sound like a mathematical equation.
The meaning can be in the words implicitly. If you don't understand the
meaning, you have to think hard and ask again and again. Only then can
you be invited to Jesus just like the writer was invited to the
professor's lab when he began the study of acoustics.
As all
sound can be understood with the three elements of generation,
propagation, and hearing, is this not true also with the word of God?
The word can be broken, diffracted, distorted, and at times understood.
Long statements are less shattered and distorted, but small expressions
can be more deformed. It can be seen that it is similar to the
phenomenon that occurs in sound propagation.
To hear the original
sound before distortion, we need to examine the causes that interfere
with the transmission. In the case of the Bible, you need to look at
the historical situation in which the utterances were recorded, the
lifestyle of the time, etc. It is important to make an effort to find
out who wrote it under what circumstances, then the words that seemed
difficult may be heard properly.
