Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Did you know about the effects of noise and loud sounds on our mental and physical health !

The following is a scientifically validated explanation of the effect of loud sounds on the mental health of human beings. We are all aware of teenagers playing loud music endlessly, the extra high sound decibel levels at movies, traffic noise on the road, planes taking off etc. 
Many of us are simply addicted to noise. But is noise good for you ? For all those interested in the impact of high intensity sounds on our mental well being, the enclosed article is a must read. 

Its a short excerpt, adapted  from the book " Eternity Of Sound and The science of Mantras" authored by Shriram Sharma Acharya.

The smallest level of intensity of sound that could be heard by our ears has been scaled to measure as zero decibels. The average intensity of a whisper (made by a human being) is measured on this scale as 10 to 20 decibels... and so on. The sounds of intensities more than 75 decibels are found to be harmful to the psychological and physical health of a person.  According to a report of the international symposium on environment organized in Stockholm by the UNO - ‘if a human being has to live constantly in a noisy atmosphere where the intensity of sound is more than 140 decibels then he would soon lose the normal mental balance...; and further, higher levels of intensities of this sound would result in his untimely death’.

It is found that, on an average, the intensity (measured in decibel levels) of sound produced by normal conversation is around 60, that of quarreling voice is about 80. The average intensity of the noisy sound of a motorbike measures around 100, that of a siren of a factory about 150, an aircraft about 160 decibels.  The collective impact of these disturbing sounds is found to explosively damaging and more dangerous for our ecosystem than the pollution of air and water.

Scientific Studies on Noise Pollution: Scientific investigations reveal that the stimulation created by the sound waves of intensities higher than 25-30 decibels at a continuous stretch can perturb the normal bio-electrical signal-processing of the nervous system and hence should be regarded as risky... Maintenance of silence in hospitals is therefore mandatory for the recovery process of a suffering human being.

Contemporary experimental research on guinea pigs as well as on the human subjects carried out in the acoustics, medicine and neuro-psychological research laboratories across the world  has shown significant malafide -effects of loud  intensity  sounds on  the clinical, physiological and psychological behavior of the subjects under study. The leading projects included - the experiments conducted at San Francisco medical college, California; Dr. William F. Guar’s research lab in Georgia; Keliayer Hearing and Speech Center, Texas; Dr. Lester W. Santen’s physiological research laboratory in Ohio; the field research carried out by Prof. V. Williams of the Harvard University, in the United States. The US studies were supplemented by Dr. Griffith in Australia, and the national studies of heavy industries’ physical and working environments, carried out in England, France and Russia.

Similar to the Doppler Effect, the negative effect of loud intensity sounds results in the destruction of matter in its vicinity. During the construction of a plane field near Leningrad, sometime in 1963, it was observed that the loud noise of the bulldozers had caused a sudden fall of the feathers of the hens in a nearby poultry farm. The loud ‘voice’ of super magnet fighter aircrafts had produced cracks in the historic caves of Kenyan. Many other historical monuments around the world are facing similar dangers due to the noise pollution created by the traffics or the heavy industrial operations in the areas around.

The intensity of sound has a key role to play at the cellular and molecular level of a human being as well.  Dr. Dailhastize’s research carried out at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has shown that the coagulation of the RBCs increases with the loudness of sound in the surrounding environment. This results in narrowing down of the arteries and increasing their rigiditySimilarly results were obtained at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, UCLA during a study of the effects of noise, the negative effects of the loudness of sound in the big cities were found to have caused liver diseases in the adults and affected the would-be-born children of the pregnant women - such infants were born with physiological and anatomical abnormalities of one kind or the other.

While the appropriate ordering and controlling of the frequency and intensity of sound in music creates a soothing effect and aids in strengthening the healthy functioning of the body and the mind, any disorderly play of sound can prove to be   harmful. For instance the electronic strain gauge tests conducted by an acoustic, Dr. John Diamond, have indicated that some combinations and tuning of the ‘Da...Da…Da in a noisy pop music can ruin about two-third of the muscle-strength of its listeners.

The sounds produced by thinking evil thoughts and sentiments like jealousy ego, anxiety, anger - generated by excessive ambitions, possessive desires or attachments - fall into the second category(there are sound vibrations created in the fields that surround our physical body and cannot be heard but are present). 
Therefore those desirous of living a happy, healthy and long life should attempt creating a noise- free atmosphere in their external and the internal world.  Silence in the surroundings and a peaceful state of mind are also crucial for the success of any kind of yoga or spiritual practice or advancement.
                                             ******
Source and credits:
To read the book "The eternity of Sound and The Science of Mantras" click the link below:
To know more about the author Shriram Sharma Acharya, please click the link below:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriram_Sharma