Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/ ZENODOarrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Preprint
Data sources: ZENODO
addClaim

Beyond AUM: The Acoustics of the Fourth Element

Authors: Psallidakos, Iannis;

Beyond AUM: The Acoustics of the Fourth Element

Abstract

The Vedic syllable AUM is traditionally analysed as three phonemes—A, U, M—yet Indian philosophy has long described a fourth element beyond these audible segments. This paper reports a spectrographic observation of what occurs during the sustained nasal /m/ when chanted with deliberate articulatory awareness. Using VoceVista Video analysis of a single sustained vocalization (f0 ≈ 110 Hz), I document a continuous reorganization of the upper formant structure: F2 rises from ~600 Hz to ~2640 Hz, F3 rises from ~2500 Hz to ~3700 Hz, and the nasal anti-resonance—a traveling band of spectral silence—migrates upward from ~500 Hz to ~3000 Hz. These three trajectories converge at ~1800 Hz, where they encounter a steady peak (N3, the third resonance of the pharyngo-nasal tube), producing a brief deep attenuation before F2 recovers and continues upward. I distinguish this "living" /m/ from an "inert" variant with stationary spectral features. This acoustic contrast is offered, with appropriate humility, as a possible correlate of the traditional distinction between "struck" (āhata) and "unstruck" (anāhata) sound, and of the fourth element long described in the Upaniṣadic and Yoga traditions.

Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback