Music as a means of torture

Many people consider music a pleasure —they would rarely think of it as a mechanism for torture and psychological manipulation at detention camps such as Guantanamo Bay.

But CAS music professor Suzanne Cusick thinks of music otherwise. She has done extensive research on music being used as a weapon of torture in the U.S. global war on terror.

Cusick said the torture is not usually about the type of music or the lyrics, but rather the "unrelenting loudness and the sense of being physically bombarded by the sound waves."

The science behind the usage of music as a form of torture consists of a series of 1950s experiments examining the effects of sensory deprivation — experiments Cusick said portray the deprivation as a mechanism for "disorientation, hallucination and cognitive dysfunction."

Cusick was motivated to conduct this study after reading Nuha al-Radi's "Baghdad Diaries," a book about the first Gulf War. One passage that likened the daily sonic booms to torture reminded her how "everyone had laughed at the apparent absurdity of soldiers playing rock music to annoy Noriega during the first George Bush's little war in Panama."

After the release of photos from Abu Ghraib and several press accounts of music being used in detention, she waited for someone to cover the story in a more serious manner. When no one had by 2006, Cusick decided to take on the task.

Cusick said she views the initial jocular reactions to music as a method of destruction as fascinating, and typifies it as an "American" response.

"I think the fact that we go there, conversationally, tells us something about ourselves and our national attitudes toward music," Cusick said.

Last week, a coalition of artists, including Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and the Roots, endorsed the Freedom of Information Act and demanded a release of records and titles of their tracks related to music as a tool for manipulation, interrogation or punishment. Although Cusick acknowledges the difficulties of banning torture, she is optimistic about the endorsement and believes such a request could teach people a lot about the use of music in detention, interrogation and torture.

According to Cusick, not enough is being done to prevent such dehumanizing tactics, but she hopes they will soon stop. She believes that the more people know, the more appalled they will be and the more likely such actions can be stopped.

"I guess the repetition of a piece of music can get under the skin," said Jacob Blumberg, a sophomore in NYU's Clive Davis School of Recorded Music. "Music has this indefinable power that we all connect to deeply, and the military has a history of exploiting natural power for their own purposes."

Lana Lee is a deputy news editor.