Dropping the mic
The pop culture gesture of dropping the microphone at the end of a performance and walking off stage is a nice microcosm of how crucial sound is to any show. Anyone who knows microphones and how they work cringe when they see that mic drop because it may have damaged the diaphragm of the microphone.
Today I realized how important sound is when I was working a bar and it was dead silent because the sound system isn't working. Having to hear every glass tap on the bar and move of each barstool can drive a person crazy when they are conditioned to have back round noise as a part of their routine. I have more success getting school work done in a crowded bar then I do in a silent room. Silence is deafening to me and my distracted thoughts always fill my mind. I need mindless chatter and ambient noise surrounding me almost forcing me to block that out and focus more.
Surround sound has progressed leaps and bounds since Dolby laboratories reintroduced surround sound in 1976. The first endeavor into surround sound was tackled by Walt Disney in the movie Anastasia in the 1940s. The previous link leads to a nice three page article detailing the history of surround sound. The text defines surround sound as "sound that produces a sound field in front of, to the sides of, and behind the listener by positioning loud speakers either to the front and the rear or to the front, sides, and rear to the listener."
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