1957 Time Magazine article about Audiophilia!

[sleepysurf]

Monday, Jan. 14, 1957
Audiophilia


A new neurosis has been discovered: audiophilia, or the excessive passion for hi-fi sound and equipment. The discoverer: Dr. Henry Angus Bowes, clinical director in psychiatry at Ste. Anne's Hospital for veterans at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que., himself an audio fan. Tweet by tweet and woof by woof, at a research meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Psychiatrist Bowes spelled out how audiophiliacs behave.

Most of them are middleaged, male and intelligent, drawn largely from professions requiring highly conscientious performance (the church, accountancy, medicine, especially psychiatry). They are often single (or if married, childless). They rarely play any musical instrument well themselves. The hi-fi devotee, Dr. Bowes found, "is very frequently of compulsive personality, and tends to go through rituals in the playing of his recordings." What distinguishes the psychopathological addict from the enthusiastic followers of this (or any other) hobby? Dr. Bowes answered: "His tendency to become preoccupied with, and dependent upon, the bizarre recorded sounds . . . combined with the urgency of the need and the final insufficiency of all attempts to satisfy it ... The sound is turned up and up until it reaches the physical level of pain . . . One addict told me he would not be satisfied until he could hear the drop of saliva from the French horns."

Those who are not well organized emotionally, said Dr. Bowes, "will treat their hi-fi set as the emotionally immature treat a car—as an expression of aggression, as a power symbol." To many it has a sexual connotation: addicts may be seeking a "sterile reproduction without biological bother," and in extreme cases, a record collection becomes a "symbolic harem." Significantly, says Psychiatrist Bowes (married, no children), an addict's wife almost always demands that the volume be turned down: "Perhaps in the male's interest in hi-fi she senses a rival, as shrill and discordant as herself."

An unconscious motive for buying expensive equipment is often a desire for revenge, said Dr. Bowes. "One very compulsive patient, who found the sexual side of matrimony completely nauseating," he recalled, "was financially ruining his fairly wealthy wife by his extravagant purchases . . . while she obtained instinctual gratification elsewhere. As he somewhat ruefully remarked: 'She's interested in low fidelity and high frequency.' "

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[slowGEEZR]

"You don't know psychiatry, I know psychiatry." - Tom Cruise

 

[User211]

Significantly, says Psychiatrist Bowes (married, no children), an addict's wife almost always demands that the volume be turned down: "Perhaps in the male's interest in hi-fi she senses a rival, as shrill and discordant as herself."

So THAT'S why she does it!!!

 

[tsmooth]

As he somewhat ruefully remarked: 'She's interested in low fidelity and high frequency.

WOW, what a line. That last paragraph is crazy.

 

[Tube60]

Ha! I love that article!
About the only thing I have in common with the good doctor Bowes is that I don't play a musical instrument well. My LP or CD collection is not a "symbolic harem", I don't have my system to express aggression or power, I'm definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, I don't find making love to a woman "nauseating", and if she were cheatin' on me, I'd kick 'er out the door and not merely make "rueful" comments about it!:rocker:
But to go back further in time, the good doctor Pavlov, if he were to have me as a guinea pig, would've thrown his conditioned response theories out the window! .....DING........ What!! You want something!? Don't bother me right now!
But perhaps that's too much of a personal revelation, for which I humbly crave forgiveness.

 

[sleepysurf]

Although I don't fully agree with Dr. Bowes description of the audiophile personality, I think his overall observations were quite astute. In 1957, I was two years old, and in retrospect, my audiophile future was probably already imprinted in my genome. It just took another 25 years to manifest!

I wonder if there are any modern-day medical studies of the audiophile personality? Nothing turns up with a current Medline search. Using today's technology, I'd love to see a functional PET Scan study of the audiophile brain!

I believe TonyC is a psychiatrist. Perhaps he'll chime in on this topic!

 

[sleepysurf]

The plot thickens! I did a Google search on Dr. Bowes, and found this obscure reference to an apparent rebuttal to his Time magazine article.

In 1957, Mrs. Frank Miwa wrote a letter to Time magazine about her husband, then age 40, and his excessive passion for hi-fi sound and equipment and disputing psychiatrist Henry Angus Bowes's theory on audiophilia.

Any ideas on how we can find a copy of that letter??

 

[sleepysurf]

Google is AMAZING!!!

Marital Hi-Fi

Sir:
Re Psychiatrist Bowes's theory on audio-philia—the excessive passion for hi-fi sound and equipment [Jan. 14]: at least one-half of Dr. Bowes's evaluation of "hifi addiction" seems to be in perfect pitch. My husband (aged 40) is a devotee. However, we have four children; he is not maladjusted sexually; he is not concerned with "bizarre recorded sounds"; but, like the addict quoted by Dr. Bowes, hubby will also "not be satisfied until he can hear the drop of saliva from the French horns." I do request that he turn down the volume—not because I sense a rival to my shrill and discordant self, but so the fillings in my teeth will stop vibrating.
MRS. FRANK MIWA St. Paul, Minn.

Sir:
About Dr. Bowes's discovery: now I know why Eve ate the apple; Adam was listening to hifi.

And:
Eve ate the apple Cause Adam was careless Now hi-fi threatens To make him heirless.
LILLIAN RUDOLPH
Denver

 

[tonyc]

I guess it takes one to know one. When sound becomes more important than the enjoyment of music, audiophilia becomes pathological. But sometimes a stereo is just a stereo.

 

[Craig]

As he somewhat ruefully remarked: 'She's interested in low fidelity and high frequency.' "
]

Was he implying that she was a slut?::devil:

 

[Rich]

Interesting. So when did they discover the related disorder known as Joeyitis (the uncontrollable compulsion to upgrade every system component multiple times until perfect system synergy is achieved, only to sell it all off and start over from scratch in a never-ending cycle of boom and bust)?

 

[Bernard]

Interesting. So when did they discover the related disorder known as Joeyitis (the uncontrollable compulsion to upgrade every system component multiple times until perfect system synergy is achieved, only to sell it all off and start over from scratch in a never-ending cycle of boom and bust)?

Welcome back Rich.

 

[Rich]

Thanks Bernard. My time is very limited lately, so I have been hopping on and posting just a little when I can find the time.

 

[JonFo]

Yeah, Rich, welcome back.

That article was just too funny.

We are all products of our upbringing in some ways.

My 'audiophila' was entirely imprinted by my father, who would place my crib right in front of the main speaker cabinet (Mono back in 1958).

He mentioned a few times getting up to see what was wrong with the system, but it was just me humming, or snoring

Now, keep in mind he was a Julliard grad concert pianist, with a Steinway grand as part of the sound making arsenal. So I was exposed to tons (4 to 6hrs a day) of live piano music, followed by more music played on the stereo’s.
He subscribed to several audio magazines, which I started reading at age 5 or 6.

He then got into building Heathkits, but as an artist, he had more than two thumbs, so at age 10 I started doing the builds for him.
By age 12 I was burning out his amps with my newfound love of ‘Rock’ music

Pretty much from age 13 or 14 on, I could quote specs for most of the mid to high-end audio lines of all major manufactures.
At any point in time thereafter, I always had a full speced-out ideal ‘system’ that I wanted.

So, was it nature (descended of artist/musicians and engineers) or nurture (early exposure to music and audio literature/hardware) that turned me into the kind of guy that has a system like mine?

 

[Rich]

So, was it nature (descended of artist/musicians and engineers) or nurture (early exposure to music and audio literature/hardware) that turned me into the kind of guy that has a system like mine?

I don't know, but there is no question that you would be the perfect candidate for a case study by some psychologist specializing in the field of audiophilia nervosa. :~)

 

[JonFo]

I don't know, but there is no question that you would be the perfect candidate for a case study by some psychologist specializing in the field of audiophilia nervosa. :~)

While I won’t deny having a disease, I will say it not the typical ‘nervosa’.

Suffers of that affliction are the ones that change cables all the time, put Shakti stones on their gear and line the interior of devices with ERS paper. That ain’t me man

Me, I suffer from the sub-genre: Audiophila maximus-machinator

That is, engineering driven compulsions for perfection. Measures everything, uses analytics and quantifications to determine next steps, and over-engineers everything to the max. Complexity is a byproduct of the pursuit of ultimate performance