WOULD you rather be blind or deaf? You would probably quickly and fervently answer that you’d rather be deaf, if you really had to choose. Vision is too dear to most people. Hearing on the other hand… well, it’s boring.
This is a misconception that neuroscientist Seth Horowitz knocks down in The Universal Sense, in which he sings the praises of this underrated sense.
The most frequent argument for hearing’s importance to humans is that it is fundamental to our most valued talents and pastimes – speech and music. That justification, however, is problematic. The sensation of hearing is universal…
