White Noise Machine, machine reaction

White Noise Machine

White noise is usually used for a couple of its unique properties: its being able to cut through background noise, which leads to it being implemented in emergency vehicle sirens, and the way it can mask other distracting noises in the environment, the reason for its use in small sleep-aid machines or for masking tinnitus. These characteristics are conceptually exploited by Yuri Suzuki, a talented artist who builds mechanisms able to make sound production socially enjoyable. He built a White Noise Machine sound installation and left it in the streets of Delhi. It’s a simple machine with a big horn speaker, reminding somehow the shape of the lost futurist Russolo’s Intonarumori. It works calculating the quantity of street noise and then generate the same amount of white noise. Left in of one of the loudest cities in the world it worked quite well, especially with children (tirelessly screaming in the horn and getting the punctual white noise reply), attracted by its playful and endless responsiveness. A brilliant social machine able to turn abstract sound into universal communication.