Introduction: sound media, sound cultures [Paper in Themed section: Sound Media, Sound Cultures. Aveyard, Karina and Moran, Albert (eds).]

Sound is an ever-present, ever-changing component of communication and media. It has been a central part of the dramatic developments that have occurred in recording, screen exhibition, radio and television broadcasting and telecommunications technologies since the 1800s. Yet, in relation to audio-visual media forms in particular, sound is often seen as a secondary element – something that is subordinate to the visual immediacy and the assigned textual primacy of the image. The aim of this issue of MIA is to help redress this imbalance and reassert the place of sound within wider conceptualisations of media and culture. The articles engage with the significance of the aural from a wide range of perspectives, taking in its experiential and immersive characteristics in relation to screen media as well as the commercial contexts of sound and music and its role in identity-making and social organisation.