Sophie speaks in a clear and considered way, with a lyrical, soft and lower vocal tone… and occasionally some loud laughs! Putting on her more ‘formal voice’, here she speaks with a ‘non-typical’ north-western accent (aka suspend your disbelief that everyone there sounds like they are from Liverpool, Manchester or Bury), with dropped ‘a’s and stronger enunciation. She often wonders if her different code-switching voices that make up critical parts of her identity (day-to-day, Macclesfield, Yorkshire, academic/telephone, British Indian, Spanish) come through.

At the end of a long day, you go to your parents’ house, come through the door, and your mum has put the kettle on for you to make a cup of tea, or a nice hot drink. And you can feel the vibrations of the countertop as the kettle starts to boil up, pushing the heat through, as it tries to get the water to the temperature, and there's a deep hum, and with the hum there's the vibration, as it does its work. And as it's reaching its peak to get it to that heat, the vibrations get more pronounced.

The sound is taking over the space encompassing the space more than it had before. Until eventually you start to hear the sound of bubbles forming but also, the feeling of that as the vibrations of the kettle itself is interrupted with the bubbles that are forming as it gets to the heat. And the space then fills up with a warm as the steam comes out.

And all of this deep hum, this voluminous sound, is then interrupted so quickly by the clicking of the switch. Which then leads to the quick dissipation of the sound of the vibration of everything, until there's just a very slight hiss coming out. And the vibration is only really felt through the kettle now.

And that moment of waiting until you think it won't scorch your tea bag, or whether that even matters at that point. And the warmth that then comes off it as you pour it into your teacup, the warmth that you feel from the care that you've been given and shown, and the warmth that you will then get as you drink the cup of tea, as you take your big, long sips, or even just holding it there in front of your face for a little while, waiting for the temperature to go down.

But all of that comes from the sound, and the actions of that kettle.

Now arguably it doesn't really matter what that kettle is, what type, who made it. What matters more is what it provides to the context of you feeling comfort.

Alt text: [On a solid peach-coloured background is The Sensational Museum ear icon, in navy blue, to indicate this is an audio output logo. Below the ear reads "Sound of 'Comfort'", in navy blue, to indicate the name of the episode.]

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This is a podcast episode, produced and recorded by The Sensational Museum Postdocs, Dr Sophie Vohra and Dr Charlotte Slark, introducing listeners (and readers) to the 'two strands' and big concepts of the project.

Sophie speaks in a clear and considered way, with a lyrical, soft and lower vocal tone… and occasionally some loud laughs! Putting on her more ‘formal voice’, here she speaks with a ‘non-typical’ north-western accent (aka suspend your disbelief that everyone there sounds like they are from Liverpool, Manchester or Bury), with dropped ‘a’s and stronger enunciation. She often wonders if her different code-switching voices that make up critical parts of her identity (day-to-day, Macclesfield, Yorkshire, academic/telephone, British Indian, Spanish) come through.

Charlotte speaks animatedly and talks faster when she’s excited. She has a southern English accent, which a local person would identify as a somewhat polished combination of Slough and Staines upon Thames (think quite hard consonants!). It’s the accent of someone from a working-class background who has spent a lot of time having to fit-in in middle class spaces.

Find the full descriptive transcript at: www.sensationalmuseum.org/resources/postdoc-podcast-belfast

Alt text: [The image shows the words 'The Sensational Museum', below which is The Sensational Museum ear icon to indicate this is an audio output logo. Below the ear reads 'Postdoc Podcast' to indicate what series it is, and finally, below that reads 'Belfast', as this episode was recorded in preparation for the first TSM retreat there in January 2024.]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.