Man is an anti-entropic creature; he is a random-to-orderly arranger and tries to perceive patterns in all things. In its broadest sense, rhythm divides the whole into parts. An appreciation of rhythm is therefore indispensable to the designer who wishes to comprehend how the acoustic environment fits together. To do this a scale or module is needed. The possession of such a scale does not imply that all things must be governed by it; only that through it they become more comprehensible. Just as the body of the human being gives us the scale by which architects and designers plan human settlements and by extension can measure uninhabited spaces beyond our reach or control, so the body also gives us modules for comprehending the acoustic rhythms of the environment and universe.

Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic E…, loc. 747