archaeoacoustics

English

Etymology

archaeo- +‎ acoustics

Noun

archaeoacoustics (uncountable)

1. The study of the role of sound in historical artifacts and sites.
   • 2007, Albert Goldbarth, The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007, Graywolf Press:

     In the nascent science of archeoacoustics, experts test the ancient sites for locations of "sonic intensity": echoes, rocks that gong when struck, etc.

   • 2014, Nina Levent, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, The Multisensory Museum: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Touch, Sound, Smell, Memory, and Space, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 98:

     Interestingly, the field of archaeoacoustics suggests that the design of sound- shaping sculptures by humans may have a much longer history than previously thought.

2. The theory that patterns on ancient artifacts encode the sounds produced while they were being created, now considered a pseudoscience.