Conflicting Communication: The Role of Noise in the Social Crisis

This reflective text asks, from the theoretical-methodological framework generated by sound and aural studies, about noise in the context of social crisis. As a social phenomenon, which is part of social communication, sound, and musical communication, sound plays an active role in the construction of situations and experiences. At the limits of communication, noise intervenes as an intensification of moments of crisis. Both from the side of protest mobilizations and, at the same time, on the part of deterrence and mass control, noise becomes a decisive pragmatic resource that is part of the political conflict. After a first conceptualization and theoretical development, we address a case study, the production, and perception of noise in the Chilean popular revolt that began in October 2019.