Noise is often termed the “ignored pollutant,” one that can lead to hypertension, anxiety, heart disease, and depression.
Nature can be noisy too. The blue whale and the sperm whale are noisier than jet planes at take-off. A snapping shrimp lives up to its moniker of a pistol shrimp, producing a shock wave that measures 200 decibels underwater which, outside water, is as loud as gunfire. The greengrocer cicada stridulates at 120 decibels.
On our walk, the “noise” of the desert does not grate on my nerves the way a car roaring past on baked asphalt at 60 miles an hour can. The car is not only eight times louder than the sound of crickets in a national park, but also a zillion times more repulsive. I shudder at the sound of a revving motorbike but revel in the trumpeting of an elephant. The horn of a truck sets my teeth on edge, but I can listen to an orchestra of Pompona imperatoria, a cicada in the old forests of Borneo, which sounds just like a truck horn, for hours.
Studies have found that natural sounds do not have the same effect on us as artificial sounds. For example, in a 2017 study that used brain scans and heart rate monitors, along with behavioral experiments, people showed a higher level of stress when exposed to artificial noise than when exposed to natural sounds. The latter helped the body relax and function better, while the former exacerbated the body’s “fight or flight” response.
On the Out of Eden Walk, we have a rich complement of both kinds of sounds. Of all the things I expected to take away from the walk, I did not expect this: a craving for silence, a keener appreciation for the nature of sound, a heightened sensitivity to metal striking metal, motors, beeps. A sentiment bordering on misophonia.
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Nature can be noisy too. The blue whale and the sperm whale are noisier than jet planes at take-off. A snapping shrimp lives up to its moniker of a pistol shrimp, producing a shock wave that measures 200 decibels underwater which, outside water, is as loud as gunfire. The greengrocer cicada stridulates at 120 decibels.
On our walk, the “noise” of the desert does not grate on my nerves the way a car roaring past on baked asphalt at 60 miles an hour can. The car is not only eight times louder than the sound of crickets in a national park, but also a zillion times more repulsive. I shudder at the sound of a revving motorbike but revel in the trumpeting of an elephant. The horn of a truck sets my teeth on edge, but I can listen to an orchestra of Pompona imperatoria, a cicada in the old forests of Borneo, which sounds just like a truck horn, for hours.
Studies have found that natural sounds do not have the same effect on us as artificial sounds. For example, in a 2017 study that used brain scans and heart rate monitors, along with behavioral experiments, people showed a higher level of stress when exposed to artificial noise than when exposed to natural sounds. The latter helped the body relax and function better, while the former exacerbated the body’s “fight or flight” response.
On the Out of Eden Walk, we have a rich complement of both kinds of sounds. Of all the things I expected to take away from the walk, I did not expect this: a craving for silence, a keener appreciation for the nature of sound, a heightened sensitivity to metal striking metal, motors, beeps. A sentiment bordering on misophonia.
- More Here
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