Dissertation, 2024, no license under Creative Commons Supervision: Robert Pfaller Abstract How can un-signified sound(s) turn into a signified? Which role does this at first supposedly un-signified assume in the (re-)construction of ideological structures? And, how does a concept of comprehending structural meaning in the before meaningless change navigation within pregiven, interpellated structures? Louis Althusser’s discourse on ideology as a structure, as an underlying system and its continuous reproduction, rather than as a specific set of ideological thoughts, are at the core of TERROR SINE VERBIS on sound and ideology. The essence of ideological structures most often is discussed in correlation to text/speech, cultural or mediatic signifiers and/or signified, religious imperatives, etc. TERROR SINE VERBIS focuses on another, specific aspect of the hidden structure underneath, namely the audio qualities and functions used. Sound – as in ALL vibrations that reach the individual’s ear, – also because of its invisible and (mostly) intangible quality, is a powerful ideological tool, replicating the given structures without conscious evaluation by the recipient. In the field of ideology interconnected to audiological tendencies current and recent research has focussed on music/sound in/as specific ideological settings, radio as an ideological transmitter as well as the significance of the voice as both a signified and a signifier. When it comes to a broader perception of sound, the audio input is considered without signified, an unfiltered spectrum of the meaningless, detached from the otherwise acoustic data with meaning (e.g. speech, music in cultural or ideological context). Hence, sound without connotation tends to be overlooked in consideration of being a factor of influence. In dialogue with existing inclinations TERROR SINE VERBIS on sound and ideology extends on the proposed sets of audio understanding linked to ideology as structure, in order to discuss sound as an ideological tool and/or sound rendering an ideological structure. In order to argue that sound is such a powerful tool in the reproduction of ideological structures, TERROR SINE VERBIS on sound and ideology aims to devise terror sine verbis as a set of unintelligible acoustic information, off language at first, entering the individual’s psyche to be turned into a set of information difficult to escape from because of its distorted, presupposed non-understanding, or rather inability to decode – yet signified. In this sense TERROR SINE VERBIS on sound and ideology offers a concept of sound understanding as a basis to confront given, interpellated structures of ideology.

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