This essay presents a detailed analysis of Georg Simon Ohm’s acoustical research between 1839 and 1844. Because of its importance in Hermann von Helmholtz’s subsequent study of sound and hearing, this work is rarely considered on its own terms. A thorough assessment of Ohm’s articles, however, can greatly enrich our understanding of later developments. Based on study of Ohm’s published writings, as well as a lengthy unpublished manuscript, the essay argues that his acoustical research foreshadows an important paradigmatic shift at a time of discursive instability prior to Helmholtz’s influential contributions. Using Ohm’s own dismissal of his supposedly “unmusical ears” as a conceptual frame, the essay describes this shift as a move away from understanding sound primarily in a musical context and toward an increasingly mathematical approach to sound and hearing. As such, Ohm’s work also anticipates a more general change in the role of the senses in nineteenth-century scientific research.

中文翻译：

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不听音乐的耳朵：Georg Simon Ohm 和声音的数学分析

本文详细分析了 Georg Simon Ohm 在 1839 年至 1844 年间的声学研究。由于它在 Hermann von Helmholtz 随后的声音和听觉研究中具有重要意义，因此很少单独考虑这项工作。然而，对 Ohm 文章的全面评估可以极大地丰富我们对后来发展的理解。基于对欧姆已发表著作的研究，以及一份未发表的冗长手稿，这篇文章认为，他的声学研究预示着在亥姆霍兹做出有影响力的贡献之前，话语不稳定时期的重要范式转变。使用欧姆自己对他所谓的“非音乐性耳朵”的驳斥作为概念框架，这篇文章将这种转变描述为从主要在音乐环境中理解声音转向对声音和听觉越来越数学化的方法。因此，欧姆的工作还预测了 19 世纪科学研究中感官作用的更普遍变化。