Sound as a weapon: a phenomenological analysis of the auditory experience of war

Abstract

The article examines sound as a specific form of violence within the experience of war through a phenomenological framework. The topic of the study concerns the reinterpretation of “sound as a weapon” beyond its conventional technocentric understanding, while the subject is the auditory dimension of wartime experience as a structure of lived perception. The aim of the research is to analyze how the sounds of war–explosions, drones, sirens, tense silence–function not merely as physical stimuli, but as events that transform the mode of being-in-the-world. Methodologically, the study is grounded in a hermeneutic-existential modification of phenomenology, drawing on the works of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Martin Heidegger, and integrating insights from contemporary sound studies. This approach allows sound to be interpreted as an experiential structure embedded in temporal, bodily, and affective dimensions rather than as a neutral acoustic signal. The relevance of the research is determined by the growing need to move beyond the dominance of visual paradigms in war studies and to critically reassess discourses on “non-lethal” acoustic technologies that risk neutralizing the violence of sonic impact. The scientific novelty lies in conceptualizing war as a radical reconfiguration of sensory hierarchy, in which the auditory acquires functional dominance under conditions of threat. The study demonstrates that in wartime sound operates as a form of structural coercion, destabilizing the lifeworld, reshaping temporality, and transforming bodily orientation. The main results show that sound in war functions as an existential weapon: not primarily through physical injury, but through the forced restructuring of perception and anticipation. Practically, the findings contribute to interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophy, psychology, military studies, and ethics, offering a deeper understanding of how war transforms fundamental conditions of human experience. The conclusion affirms that the most radical power of sound in war lies in its capacity to reconfigure lived reality itself.