Auscultation Analysis

Sound a Sign of Life

Five year old John nervously roams around the crowded store scanning for his mom. He shouts for her but gets no response. After 15 seconds he hears that familiar voice that he has heard all throughout his life, and gets the sense of hope and relief. The story Auscultation by Steven Church connects scenes of trapped miners communicating with rescuers by sound. As well as scenes of stethoscopes functioning on humans listening for the sound of life. Sound is a form of communication between one another which helps identifying and perceiving the condition of life.

In severe times such as the six miners missing by the Cave in at the Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah, sound is an effective way to know the existence of the miners.

“They also erected seismic listening devices on the surface and set of three dynamite charges, a signal to any surviving miners to make noise” (Steven Church 9-11/ 5). Setting of the charges was a way of communication between the rescuers and miners by the sound the charges made. Rescuers were hoping the trapped miners would hear the noise of the charges, so the miners would know they would be saved. “The electronic ears listened for the sound of hammers pounding on the rock and on roof bolts, the telltale rap-and thump of life. We listened and listened but never heard a thing” (Steven Church 11-15/5-6). Unfortunately, there was no reply of hammers pounding on the rock picked up by the listening devices. So that let operators know that there was no life beneath the surface of earth so the rescue search was terminated. If there was noise picked up by the device. Rescuers would get hope that the miners were still alive and resume the search.
Stethoscopes are tools typically used to listen to the heart. Not only do they listen to heartbeats but they also give people the sense of life by projecting whatever they hear from the heart. “I first heard the whoosh-whoosh of my daughters heart as a reproduction..., or more directly, the doctors recognition that this normal noise” (Steven Church 179-193/12). The parent received the perception that their baby was healthy because of the heart beats heard from the stethoscope. The sound of the heartbeating was a sign that let the parent know that their baby was thriving. “I did not identify myself as a father until I heard my child's heart, and that I couldn’t have heard this without the aid of a stethoscope.” (Steven Church 216-219/13). Parents are satisfied that there child is alive and healthy during their wife's pregnancy because of the assistance of a stethoscope. The sound of the heart the stethoscope is able to present, satisfied the fact that the baby is healthy and alive. The stethoscope really helps identify a parent, as they know their baby is living.
Sound used as a form of communication to identify life also occurs in a similar situation at 2002 where nine coal miners are trapped in the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania.

“They pound and pound, but background noise on the surface interferes... The men write notes to family members, seal them in a metal lunch box, and wait to die” (Steven Church 240-245/14). When you can't be heard you get the sense of death. Although when you hear sound and are heard, people get the sense of life. “He listens, his hands on the machine, until he finally hears or feels the rhythmic noise of the trapped men hammering at the steel. Above them, on the outside, the expectant wives and mothers rejoice” (Steven Church 264-269/15). The operator hears the fair sound of steel getting hammered on and realizes that it was the alive trapped miners. The miners pounding on the steel gave hope to the drill operator and the miners families that the miners were still alive. If the miners did not pound on the steel, the possibility of them getting saved would be low because the people on the surface would know if the miners were even alive. Therefore, sound being used as a form of communication to know the condition of life is

important.
Sound is an important form of communication used during tough times to identify life. The projection of sound to humans informs them about the condition of their bodies. The existence of life is determined by the sound we make. Sound connects humans to their bodies and to other life surrounding them.