This quote touches on a fundamental aspect of human perception and communication—the limitations of our sensory experiences and how they influence the way we understand the world around us. It suggests that our reliance on hearing, or audio perception, emerges as a compensatory mechanism for what we are unable to visually perceive. In a deeper philosophical context, this aligns with Slavoj Žižek’s critical theory approach, which often explores the ways ideology and symbolic structures shape our reality. Here, the auditory becomes crucial because vision, symbolic of direct or immediate reality, is incomplete or obstructed.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, this resonates with the idea that our consciousness is not a totality; much remains hidden or unconscious, necessitating other ways (such as language, voice, or hearing) to access or fill the gaps in our understanding. Hearing thus becomes not just a sensory modality but a symbolic process—through listening, interpretation, and recognition—that allows us to glean meanings and truths obscured from direct sight.

On a more existential level, the quote reminds us of the inherent limitations we face as human beings. We construct realities not only through what we see but heavily through what we hear, what is communicated to us indirectly or through others. Silence and absence can be as telling as presence, and voices can reveal truths beyond visual evidence. This interdependence of senses reflects the complexity of human experience and the constant negotiation between visible facts and audible narratives, each shaping our perception of truth and reality. Overall, it pushes us to acknowledge the partiality of sight and the integral role of voice in constituting our understanding of the world.