I want to think of silence as the white space as used by the Japanese in their art. It is considered as important as the space taken up by the painted areas. I think I value silence in much the same way. In this metaphor, desirable sound would be the painted part of the picture. Anything else would be like crayon scribblings of a madman over top of both the white space and the intentionally painted parts. It makes a rather ugly picture in my mind's eye and certainly makes for unpleasant listening in the real world of sound.

I am partially blessed with a reduced hearing capacity - at least in the upper range. Unless I have my aids screwed in, this helps to eliminate a few noises for me, but as McGrath points out, there is rarely ever true silence in the real world.

It is often considered to be part and parcel to the various permutations of the Attention Deficit Syndrome that some sort of sonic stimulation is everpresent. I have noticed this about myself. I have to actually FORCE myself to have quiet moments. I have never actually been diagnosed one way or the other, but I have one child who has been. Some experts point out that the syndrome often follows family lines. Who knows? Either way, some music in the background makes me happy. But I never, ever take a radio or whatever with me when I go into the woods. There is music enough out there.

Allan C.whohopesyou'llforgivehisramblings