Sounds that Affect

Dopamine, Ecological Listening, and Sonic Practices of Resistance in the Burnout Society

Abstract

This article proposes a critical analysis of contemporary modes of sonic affect, situating music and sound design within the context of the so-called burnout society (HAN, 2015). It argues that sonic experience has increasingly been functionalized as a technology of affective regulation, driven by logics of rapid stimulation, predictability, and immediate consumption—here conceptualized as fast sound. Drawing on listening theory, transpersonal psychology, and ecological paradigms inspired by Viktor Schauberger and Ernst Götsch, the paper distinguishes between two regimes of sonic affect: a dopaminergic regime, based on attention capture and immediate response, and an ecological regime, grounded in processes of duration, resonance, and relationality. As its central contribution, the article proposes the concept of ecological listening as an aesthetic, ethical, and perceptual practice capable of challenging dominant models of sonic consumption, particularly within audiovisual media and digital platforms. By articulating theoretical reflection with compositional practices—including three-dimensional spatialization, parametric trajectories, and spectromorphological gestures—the paper suggests that sound creation can function as a form of resistance to regimes of sensory saturation and affective modulation, fostering more complex experiences of attention, presence, and transformation.