本文討論的是聲音以哪些方式，成為一種瞭解自我、世界和「百分之百的他者」的媒介，也是人類獨特的一種回應不同層次之他者、或與其建立關係的方法。聲音是一種非物質性卻又感覺得到的存在，也是聽覺的基本的人類學面向，不同的文化運用這些特質，作為詮釋現實與精神世界的強烈隱喻。雖然科技進步似乎把聲音的本質變得微不足道，也改變了人類對聲音的態度，聲音仍保有其難以記憶的特質，及其在現實中界定人類地位的力量。因此，聲音提供了一種獨一無二的角度，藉此理解人性，同時對聲音的關注是對人類生活的一種熱衷。

This article discusses some of the ways in which sound acts both as a medium of revelation about the self, the world and the “Totally Other,” and as a unique human means for answering to or establishing relations with different levels of otherness. The immateriality and yet perceivable presence of sound, as well as the fundamental anthropological dimensions of hearing and listening have been employed by different cultures as powerful metaphors for interpreting reality and the spiritual world. Although technological progress appears to have trivialised the nature of sound and altered human attitudes towards it, sound retains its elusiveness and the power to define the place of humanity in the midst of reality. Hence, sound provides an exclusive perspective for understanding the human nature, while concern about sound is a form of solicitude for the human life.