Post by the Scribe on Sept 10, 2012 15:45:10 GMT -5
This is a fascinating subject. Never thought of a song by Linda as being an earworm but many have that effect. There are some sounds that have actually made me physically ill. Check out the website for some interesting toys. I posted a couple at the end of this post. Somewhere in this theory explains our attraction to Linda Ronstadt's voice and our repulsion to others.
Psychology of Sound:
www.neuropop.com/
Everyday we're surrounded by millions of sounds - ambient ones like the hum of the air conditioner, as well as more attention-grabbing sounds, such as human speech. On Sunday night, neuroscientist and musician Seth Horowitz joined Ian Punnett ( Twitter) to discuss how sound affects us, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound to alter the way we think and feel. People can have difficulty acclimating to the sounds of city or the country, depending on where they're from, he detailed. If a city person goes to the country, the quiet can be disturbing because the lack of sound can seem like a warning that something is wrong, while the reverse is true for the country person going to the city. He also revealed that each city has its own unique band of sound around it, based on various factors.
Horowitz speculated on sound weapons of the future. One device that is already in use is the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device)-- "it's an extraordinarily powerful amplifier pumping out a tone that's right in the middle of most normal human hearing range but it's so powerful that if you're within 10-20 ft. of it for more than 10-20 seconds, you're in trouble-- you will lose your hearing. It will drive people away from up to 50-100 ft. away no problem," he said. Explaining why people find particular sounds disturbing such as fingernails on a blackboard, he noted that such sounds are "pseudo-periodic," with random variations that can be especially jarring.
Horowitz also addressed the intriguing subject of "earworms," jingles or songs that play or get stuck in our heads like loops. Most earworms are something that's been repeated over and over again, so your brain has actually formed a neural circuit around it, he said. Interestingly, there are a lot of sounds we simply aren't aware of because they occur underwater, he pointed out. The source of one mysterious underwater sound known as " the Bloop" has never been identified from naval recordings, he added.
Book Description
Publication Date: September 4, 2012 | ISBN-10: 1608190900 | ISBN-13: 978-1608190904 | Edition: 1
The surprising truth about how the things our ears hear affect what's between them.
Every day, we are surrounded by millions of sounds - ambient ones like the rumble of the train and the hum of air conditioner, as well as more attention-grabbing sounds, such as human speech, music, and sirens. But how do we process what we hear every day? And how does it affect our brains and our minds? This book answers such revealing questions as:
How do bats see in 3D with their ears and how did that lead to the development of medical ultrasound?
What is it about the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard that makes us cringe?
Why do city folks have trouble sleeping in the country, and vice versa?
Why can't you get that song out of your head?
Starting with the basics of auditory biology, neuroscientist and musician Seth Horowitz explains how sound affects us, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound: into music, commercial jingles, car horns, and modern inventions like cochlear implants, ultrasound scans, and the mosquito ringtone. Whether you're standing in a crowded subway or a quiet meadow, you'll never hear the same way after reading this book. The Universal Sense gives new insight into what the sounds of our world have to do with the way we think, feel, and interact.
BINAURAL BEATING 4Hz: (THETA WAVES)
www.neuropop.com/Audio/BinauralTh4250HzCF.mp3
What is it? How does it work?
Binaural beating is a simple way to trick relatively large chunks of your brain into synchronizing. If you play a specific frequency tone, lets say 250 Hz in your left ear, but play 254 Hz into your right ear, you will not just hear two separate tones, but rather will hear a single tone that seems to be changing four times per second. If you select binaural beating rates that match certain brain rhythms, you can sometimes get changes in your cognitive state. The example above is modulated at 4 Hz in the "theta" range, often associated with memorization.
THE GHOST ROOM: INFRASONICS (REQUIRES SUBWOOFER)
www.neuropop.com/Audio/ghostroom.mp3
What is it? How does it work?
Our own work and a number of recent studies have shown that infrasonic and near-infrasonic sound (<20 Hz) can induce feelings of unease or fear. Some have suggested that the perception of paranormal phenomena are actually based on exposure to infrasonic signals which create a "feeling of presence." Ghostroom is a sound with pseudorandom modulation of very low frequency (<50 Hz) sounds, which, with the proper subwoofer settings, can create momentary infrasonic pulsations. If you loop this for several minutes, the sensation increases.
Psychology of Sound:
www.neuropop.com/
Everyday we're surrounded by millions of sounds - ambient ones like the hum of the air conditioner, as well as more attention-grabbing sounds, such as human speech. On Sunday night, neuroscientist and musician Seth Horowitz joined Ian Punnett ( Twitter) to discuss how sound affects us, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound to alter the way we think and feel. People can have difficulty acclimating to the sounds of city or the country, depending on where they're from, he detailed. If a city person goes to the country, the quiet can be disturbing because the lack of sound can seem like a warning that something is wrong, while the reverse is true for the country person going to the city. He also revealed that each city has its own unique band of sound around it, based on various factors.
Horowitz speculated on sound weapons of the future. One device that is already in use is the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device)-- "it's an extraordinarily powerful amplifier pumping out a tone that's right in the middle of most normal human hearing range but it's so powerful that if you're within 10-20 ft. of it for more than 10-20 seconds, you're in trouble-- you will lose your hearing. It will drive people away from up to 50-100 ft. away no problem," he said. Explaining why people find particular sounds disturbing such as fingernails on a blackboard, he noted that such sounds are "pseudo-periodic," with random variations that can be especially jarring.
Horowitz also addressed the intriguing subject of "earworms," jingles or songs that play or get stuck in our heads like loops. Most earworms are something that's been repeated over and over again, so your brain has actually formed a neural circuit around it, he said. Interestingly, there are a lot of sounds we simply aren't aware of because they occur underwater, he pointed out. The source of one mysterious underwater sound known as " the Bloop" has never been identified from naval recordings, he added.
Book Description
Publication Date: September 4, 2012 | ISBN-10: 1608190900 | ISBN-13: 978-1608190904 | Edition: 1
The surprising truth about how the things our ears hear affect what's between them.
Every day, we are surrounded by millions of sounds - ambient ones like the rumble of the train and the hum of air conditioner, as well as more attention-grabbing sounds, such as human speech, music, and sirens. But how do we process what we hear every day? And how does it affect our brains and our minds? This book answers such revealing questions as:
How do bats see in 3D with their ears and how did that lead to the development of medical ultrasound?
What is it about the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard that makes us cringe?
Why do city folks have trouble sleeping in the country, and vice versa?
Why can't you get that song out of your head?
Starting with the basics of auditory biology, neuroscientist and musician Seth Horowitz explains how sound affects us, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound: into music, commercial jingles, car horns, and modern inventions like cochlear implants, ultrasound scans, and the mosquito ringtone. Whether you're standing in a crowded subway or a quiet meadow, you'll never hear the same way after reading this book. The Universal Sense gives new insight into what the sounds of our world have to do with the way we think, feel, and interact.
BINAURAL BEATING 4Hz: (THETA WAVES)
www.neuropop.com/Audio/BinauralTh4250HzCF.mp3
What is it? How does it work?
Binaural beating is a simple way to trick relatively large chunks of your brain into synchronizing. If you play a specific frequency tone, lets say 250 Hz in your left ear, but play 254 Hz into your right ear, you will not just hear two separate tones, but rather will hear a single tone that seems to be changing four times per second. If you select binaural beating rates that match certain brain rhythms, you can sometimes get changes in your cognitive state. The example above is modulated at 4 Hz in the "theta" range, often associated with memorization.
THE GHOST ROOM: INFRASONICS (REQUIRES SUBWOOFER)
www.neuropop.com/Audio/ghostroom.mp3
What is it? How does it work?
Our own work and a number of recent studies have shown that infrasonic and near-infrasonic sound (<20 Hz) can induce feelings of unease or fear. Some have suggested that the perception of paranormal phenomena are actually based on exposure to infrasonic signals which create a "feeling of presence." Ghostroom is a sound with pseudorandom modulation of very low frequency (<50 Hz) sounds, which, with the proper subwoofer settings, can create momentary infrasonic pulsations. If you loop this for several minutes, the sensation increases.
