RT Journal Article T1 ‘A Chamber of Noise Horrors’: sound, technology and the museum A1 James Mansell YR 2017 VO Special Issue: Sound and Vision IS Spring 2017 K1 exhibition history K1 museums K1 noise K1 Science Museum K1 sound K1 Technology AB This article examines the 1935 Science Museum temporary exhibition on Noise Abatement, situating it in the sound historical context of inter-war Britain, and making an argument that the ‘way of hearing’ it advanced was part of an attempt to shape auditory perception in the interests of a class-bound culture of acoustic civilization. Further, the article uses this exhibition to mount an argument that museum scholars should consider sound not simply as a medium of engagement, but also as a politically interested and socially active field. NO In taking this approach the article deliberately leaves aside several important questions relating to the practicalities of using sound in museum spaces, including issues of hearing ability/disability. NO Newspaper clipping, ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’, The Sunday Chronicle, 23 June 1935, National Archives, FD1/4048 NO Letter from Sir Henry Richards to Pelham, 9 October 1934, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134 NO File note, Proposed “Anti-Noise” Exhibition, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134 NO Typescript of a radio broadcast made by Lord Horder on behalf of the Anti-Noise League, 20 January 1935, Museum of English Rural Life, SR CPRE C/1/150/1 NO British Medical Journal, 10 August 1929, pp 267–268 NO Exhibit list, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134 NO Letter from R F Millard to members of the Anti-Noise League, 14 March 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Loan questionnaire, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Daily Telegraph, 31 May 1935, p 21 NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Description of silent lift exhibit, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Minutes of the third meeting of the Buildings Sub-Committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, 6 February 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO Draft of article ‘Noise and Housing’ by Hope Bagenal, National Archives, HLG/52/1210 NO ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’ PB The Science Museum Group SN 2054-5770 LA eng DO 10.15180/170704 UL https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/sound-technology-and-the-museum/ WT Science Museum Group Journal OL 30