What is Sound?
From a scream that derails your thoughts to a child’s laughter that makes you smile, you can feel the power different sounds have over your emotions. Many religions and tribes have their own traditions stemming from special sounds and mantras. They use these sounds as a tool for united thinking and emotional integrity.
Music, a mixture of different sounds, has a profound effect on our state of mind. From fear to joy, music can cause us to feel incredibly strong emotions. Physically, a sound is a series of waves that cause our eardrum to vibrate in rhythm with a particular sound wave. The vibration of our eardrum is then converted to electrical signals that travel through the brain’s nerves. Your brain then tells you that you hear a sound and produces an emotional response accordingly.
Sounds can shift our perception of the outer world and ourselves. It can be a valuable experiment to discover which sounds impact you most profoundly.
Sounds of Nature and Animals
When you listen to a babbling brook you feel calm. But why? Researchers at BS Medical school found that ‘natural sounds’ affect our body’s nervous system and increase the resting activity of the brain.
The vibrations of nature are much like our body’s own vibrations. Exposing our brain to nature causes the two to sync up. The two literally harmonize and we can see nature’s sound waves echoed in our natural processes.
Synthetic Sounds of Music
Humans invented musical instruments so they could experiment with a wide range of sounds outside of their own voices. Depending on the quality of sound played, the vibrations can alter our physical and emotional landscape. If we enjoy the music we hear, then our bodies flush with oxytocin, a hormone known as the ‘love’ hormone in addition to endorphins, the ‘feel-good’ chemicals.
Music is most enjoyable when human voices harmonize with melodies made by instruments. Harmonies cause our brains to relax by reminding us of the melodies of nature.
However, some music genres, like rock or heavy metal, can have the opposite effect. These genres produce stress and cause us to feel the need to take action. It is important you select the right music for your environment and your emotional needs. If you are trying to meditate, then trap music isn’t right for you. However, if you are trying to exercise then you may want to listen to something more intense than new age music.
Photo by Luz Fuertes on Unsplash
Unpleasant Sounds
While natural and gentle sounds can make us feel safe and allow us to remain in a tranquil state of mind, suddenly loud and unpleasant sounds like a dog barking or the pounding of a jackhammer may force us out of this tranquil state. We may even pay more attention to them as they indicate danger.
According to the latest research, our brains are disturbed by harsh sounds in different ways. People react differently depending on the range that the sound falls into. Evidence suggests that sounds between 40 and 80 Hz cause the brain to go into high alert. Sounds within this range are often used by alarm systems because they jolt the mind to attention. But our brain can regulate the response to this type of sound in an intriguing way. If these sounds feel familiar, like the sound of our dog barking, we can tolerate them more as our brain regulates responses to that type of sound.
Our brains handle children’s tantrums much the same. Children below the age of three lack the vocabulary to express their feelings and instead have tantrums to express their needs. When the mother of the child throwing a tantrum hears the chaos her child is producing she can more easily tolerate the noises than the average person mainly because of her familiarity with the sound. A public tantrum will have more effect on a stranger than it will on the child’s mother.
Having an emotional outburst? Consider reading this
Our brain has a deep connection with outside sounds. Because of this, we must remember that the sounds we make have a powerful effect on others. When you want to transfer tranquility to another person, it is best to speak calmly. Negative behavior and chaotic music can change your brain’s vibrations to low levels. Scientific literature has found that sound has a profound effect on water. As we all know, the human body is composed of 70% water. As a result, our bodies are easily altered by surrounding vibrations, and our mood can easily be changed.
Becoming more conscious of the sounds that surround you can lead you to find balance and harmony in places of chaos.
It is a good idea for all of us to spend more time in nature. Remember that temper tantrum are an emotional outburst that can be shifted to positive behavior by staying calm and listening to vibrant positive sounds.
Are you Struggling?
Having trouble keeping yours or your child’s emotions in check? Feel free to reach out to Coach Ross. He is experienced in helping parents of all kinds find emotional stability in places of chaos.
