#1081 Audio Peeking

Not long ago, we were standing around the studio and one of the guys said, “I took a peek at your audio and it’ll most likely work.”
I said, “Is it possible to take a peek at something you’re listening to?”
Well in this case it was, because he was referring to the way audio looks on a computer screen in a sound-editing program—all the squiggly lines and stuff.
But it got me to thinking. Is there a word for listening that’s equivalent to the word “peek” for seeing—a short, quick, impression? You take a peek at something if you are either being quick or sneaky. You glance at something if you want to give it a quick look too. But is there a similar word for a quick listen? Other than, I took a quick listen?
For the sneaky peek, there’s eavesdrop. But somehow I don’t get the same implied quick duration for eavesdrop that I do for peek. You can lend someone an ear, but again, it’s usually a relatively long-term lease.
They say a person can perceive visual images at 6 times the speed of audio impressions like the spoken word. That’s why sales and informational presentations often have visual aids. It helps to keep people’s minds from straying.
But it certainly doesn’t help that even the language we speak doesn’t have a word for quickly listening. We can talk in sound-bites and snippets and sharp rejoinders. But we always seem to listen to them passively and with undefined duration.
When you cut someone off audio-wise, it usually involves some help, with either action or technology. You walk away from the conversation. You hang up on some one.
Maybe it’s because we can close our eyes and mouth, but we can’t close our ears. Not unless we stick our fingers in them and start singing a series of nonsensical syllables so we won’t hear someone telling us the spoiler ending of a movie.
Na na na na na na na na na na...
So as one of the great pioneers of short bursts of audio, Samuel Morse, put it, “That’s the long and short of it.”
America, ya gotta love it.