Bombarded by soundful images: An audiovisual account of 9/11

Images have become an important aspect of, and shaping force on, society. However, the evolving articulation taking place between images and sounds tends to be undertheorised. This article argues that, as images have become more ‘soundful’, that is, as images have become naturalised as a ‘source’ of sounds, and as sounds are increasingly seen to emanate directly from images, mediated sounds have come to reinforce images in hegemonic fashion. In this essay, a discussion of 9/11 as a televisual event will be used as a starting point to investigate implications of the interactions between images and sounds in increasingly audiovisual cultures.