Acouasm

Tinnitus (in Latin and English = Italian acufene) refers to a disturbance consisting of noises that, in various forms (ringing, buzzing, hissing, crackling, hissing, pulsating, etc.) are perceived in one ear, both ears, or in the head in general, and can be so annoying that they impact the sufferer's quality of life. They originate within the auditory system, but when they first appear, they are illusorily perceived as sounds coming from the external environment. [wikipedia]

However, the English term "acouasm" has a marked hallucinatory connotation. It indicates, in fact, "a nonverbal auditory hallucination, such as a ringing or hissing." [Random House Unabridged Dictionary].

Here, Robert Scott Thompson, Californian, born in 1959, uses it as the title of an evocative and suffused electroacoustic piece:

…a musical essay on auditory memory, this work emphasizes sonic resonances, reverberating metallic timbres, and similar sounds in order to create an aural image of the psychological condition. A central sonic element is created by vocal simulation synthesis. The chant-like melodies of the synthetic singers are a thread of continuity which frames the overall work providing harmonic coherence and also helping to articulate formal structure.

Robert Scott Thompson – Acouasm (2001).

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