In a world steeped primarily in visual perception, auditory phenomena face a constant struggle for significance. The importance of sound, generally taken for granted, is underestimated. This lack of appreciation of auditory phenomena has resulted in an over-reliance on visual imagery and experience. Sartre's view of the Other, Heidegger's vision of being and the Apollonian visual world are just a few examples of philosophical concepts focused on the visual. Focusing solely on sight during experience resulted in inattention to the "overall fullness of experience" according to Ihde, and I believe that an appreciation of auditory phenomena is necessary for an accurate construction of reality in the phenomenological sense of the incarnation. Although they do not directly address auditory phenomena, I believe it is possible to relate sounds to the sense of embodiment that stems from Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. Sound is a vibration or wave of air molecules caused by the movement of an object. . The wave is a compression wave which propagates in the air at a speed which depends on the temperature. Without movement, there could be no sound. When an object moves or vibrates, the air molecules around the object also vibrate. Each molecule moves back and forth a small distance, but that's enough for the air particles to collide. This creates areas where there are many molecules close together (compression); and areas where molecules are very far from each other (rarefactions). These compressions and rarefactions move away from the sound source in circles. A sound wave is created when a series of these pressure changes/waves travel through the air. A sound wave contains energy, which in turn m...... middle of paper ...... May 2009. Web. March 23, 2011. .Pasnau, Robert. “What is sound?” The Philosophical Quarterly 49.196 (1999): 309-24. Wiley Online Library. University of St. Andrews, January 7, 2003. Web. May 1, 2011. .Pilotta, Joseph J. Interpersonal Communication: Essays in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics. [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]: Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, 1982. Print. Smith, David W. "Phenomenology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, November 16, 2003. Web. April 30, 2011. “the sound”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. April 30. 2011. .