ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the difference between the simple obstructive or distractive effect of symptoms intruding upon ordinary daily life and the tendency of some sufficiently intense and unpleasant symptoms to capture our consciousness completely. There is something incomplete about the conventional medical distinction between sign and symptom. This distinction is a reasonable and helpful one for some practical purposes, but it over-simplifies both doctor and patient. A symptom is a sign to the self, a sign that is read by the self, and not by the doctor – at least not initially. Being ill is, in part, being in a prison of uncoordinated, acutely perceived sounds – sounds made arbitrarily by others who are free to roam in a way that mocks the bedridden. Noise stands in contrast to silence, but it also stands in contrast to meaningful sound, sound that has sense, purpose, direction – sounds such as music.
