Over the last decade, museum studies have shown growing interest in sound as a component of exhibition design, curatorial practice, and multisensory access. Yet sound is still often treated either as an atmospheric layer or as a technological enhancement, rather than as a structured medium of knowledge. While the presence and study of sound in museums have been widely explored, this paper introduces and defines the notion of sound museology as a distinct conceptual and methodological framework in which sound and music function as structured, accountable forms of epistemic mediation within museum practice. Building on earlier reflections first outlined in Museum RESonance. Preliminary Considerations on Music in History of Science Museums (2023), the paper argues that sound can function as a cognitive and curatorial language when it is grounded in an explicit historical-epistemic problem, in a traceable mapping between relations and sonic parameters, and in a declared status distinguishing reconstruction, simulation, and interpretation. It also formalizes a tripartite operational model — res / spaces / narratives — designed to clarify distinct levels of sonic intervention in museum contexts. Rather than merely intensifying immersion or atmosphere, sound museology seeks to define the conditions under which sound can contribute to interpretation, accessibility, and the transmission of knowledge.
Natacha Fabbri (Tue,) studied this question.