Ong again: He notes that some critters (ants, fish) have a social organization of sorts without sound, but argues that for animals that emit sounds, sound signals establish social relations. This is due to the reciprocal character of sound: “Sounds which I produce tend to evoke responses from outside me in a way that very few of my visible or tangible activities do.”
Further, sounds are typically used within a group, forming a sonic community: “animal sound almost always is a signal to others within the species . . . Normally lions roar not to frighten their prey or even other competing carnivores but to signal to other lions [which is why Jesus roars like a lion, and Satan!].” By contrast, “visual and olfactory as well as tactual signals are regularly used to affect other species; for example, to frighten or discourage predators.”
Touch is also reciprocal (the touched is necessarily also touching), but touch requires proximity, and “socialization commonly demands a certain distance” that sound allows.
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