“A near-death experience (NDE) refers to personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light. These phenomena are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead or very close to death.” (wikipedia.org)
The bright light coming from a door, seeing yourself from above and a feeling of bliss making it hard to turn around. Many people who faced death for seconds share the same experiences. “Near death experiences” occur when people are brain dead for some seconds or are somehow else very close to never come back. Reports of what they experience are astonishingly consistent, having the bright light as main component.
There is a quite broad data basis about how “near death” looks like. But how does it sound? Saskia Moore wants to find out. The Australian artist interviewed many people who have been near death and found some commonalities in their sound experiences.
Not only the look but also the sounds seem to be pretty equal when we wander at the borderline between life and death. What she found out is that one hears sounds never heard before. New sounds are produced when we are about to die.
Moore combines reports of “miniature symphonies” to one continuous symphony called Dead Symphony. A mix of acoustic and digital, even cold and artificial sounds, is what comes to our memories while being near death. The sounds fit pretty good with bright lights and is pretty close to what you would choose in an according movie scene anyway. If that’s real, sliding to the afterlife is at least acoustically pleasant.
Watch the interview with Saskia Moore in the video below:
Get a short impression on how near death might sound like in the example on the Arts Center Melbourne here.