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PARACOUSTICS: SOUND AND THE PARANORMAL edited by Steven T. Parsons and Callum E. Cooper. Hove, United Kingdom: White Crow Books, 2015. Pp. 309. $17.99 (paperback); $8.99 (Kindle). ISBN 978-1-910121-32-0.
Within the ranks of parapsychologists, researchers who study phenomena that are associated with claims of ghosts and hauntings are sometimes viewed as particularly controversial denizens of an already controversial field. In this environment, Paracoustics: Sound and the Paranormal should reassure readers that those who study anomalous sounds are serious in their intent and critical in their scholarship (notwithstanding the image of a ghost wearing headphones on the book's front cover).
Reports of paranormal activity are often associated with anomalous sounds that seem to have no physical source-unexplained rapping and banging, footsteps, breaths, shrieks, disembodied voices, whistles, and music. In Paracoustics, Parsons and Cooper have drawn together a collection of chapters that review what is known about these kinds of anomalous sounds, as well as phenomena such as infrasound and electronic voice phenomena that cannot be heard by the unaided ear yet can be studied using electronic equipment. The book has an atypical structure, consisting of seven chapters by the editors, five chapters by other scholars, and appendices that consist of reprints of scholarly articles and brief methodological essays. In general, the book is exceptionally readable without being "dumbed-down." Some of the published articles in the appendices may be difficult for readers without a research background, but even then the gist is clear.
In Section 1, Parsons leads off by providing readers with a brief primer on the physics of sound, followed by a chapter by Cooper on the psychology of auditory perception. Together, these chapters provide a useful introduction to acoustical concepts and the nature of hearing that provides a foundation for the rest of the book. After two chapters on...