In the past two decades, we have witnessed burgeoning interdisciplinary inquiries into the materiality, intermediality, and historicity of sound in cultural and historical studies, where the meanings of sound have greatly multiplied and concretized to become technological apparatuses, sensorial experiences, and multimedial aesthetics. 

In this emerging field of sound studies, which organizes disciplines ranging from ethnomusicology and performance studies to history and environmental humanities, scholars examine the ephemeral and yet multifaceted meanings of sound. While the existing scholarship of sound studies is largely founded on Western experiences, we propose, as scholars of East Asian Studies, that the historical experiences of East Asia and its intra-regional connections can greatly enrich the scope, subjects, and theoretical resources of sound studies.