Noise is associated with various phenomena, ranging from unwanted sounds to random fluctuations in thermodynamic systems. Beyond it being an acoustic property, scientists now regard noise as a limiting factor in information theory and measurement processes. How have so many meanings arisen? The history of noise over the past 150 years shows that its definition has undergone a series of semantic and conceptual shifts and extensions.
One of the most fascinating topics in science is the development of the various, sometimes even contradictory, meanings and concepts of noise. Yet not much has been written about its history. That might be because researchers often view noise negatively, and associate it with what to get rid of, such as distortions in data that need to be eliminated, suppressed, or filtered. But not all definitions amount to what is unwanted. Noise is a factor, if not the focus of scientific concern, in the...
