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Soundless Music?

Posted by michael on from the imitating-paul-simon dept.

Julez writes "Hi, Found this on icLiverpool's site, thought you might find this interesting.... A bizarre experiment in soundless music has revealed how people's emotions are affected by noises they cannot hear..."

14 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. Standing waves.. by jasno · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if the individual experiences were determined by the location in which the listener sat. It would seem that standing waves could form, with some people getting blasted, while others feel nothing.

    Not a very technical article, but interesting nonetheless.

    Practice makes rejects

    --

    http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
  2. Sound makes no difference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah - this probably explains why my girlfriend's mood changes the same way whether I fart silently or not...

  3. Sixth Column by Kafir · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Robert Heinlein's Sixth Column the good guys (defending America against Pan-Asian invaders) use "subsonics" to make people uneasy. That's what this study says "infrasound" (same thing, different name) would do: make people who were already nervous more nervous, without their knowing why.
    I assumed this was already well known science; the other possibility is that Heinlein was uncannily prescient (even for him.)
    Anyone have more background on this?

    1. Re:Sixth Column by DAQ42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, there is a note called the "brown" note. It's a tone that causes humans to lose bowel control (I don't know if this has already been mentioned, I read comments at a level 3 or above rating. Yeah, I'm lazy, fuck you trolls *thwack*). There are also tones that induce vomiting, nasal bleeds, and lung failure, heart failure, and epiliptic seizures in non-eplilectis subjects. It has to do with the tonal resonance on the cells and other such meat space stuff. There are a lot of things that cause sympathetic vibrations in matter. Most people are not aware of this, but if you live in a large city, the feeling you get when you are out away from civilization (like I mean, out there, away from power lines a must), is the lack of the low tonal B vibration caused by the 60 (or 50, or 47, or 78, depending on your country of origin) in the air. Electricity flowing through power lines in power grids causes a tonal vibration that can actually be measured by human senses. You can actually feel the difference.
      As an anecdotal reference, I was travelling cross counrty (USA), and was out in the desert (no power lines within several score miles). It was peaceful. It was quiet. My senses felt jazzed and alive, mainly because they weren't constantly being bombarded by that 60 cycle hum of electrics around me.
      Anyway.
      So natch.

      --
      Don't Ask Questions. I don't know the answers and even if I did I wouldn't tell you.
  4. No Control Group? by Fly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It would be an interesting experiment if they had a control group. The end of the story mentions some things they want to try, but if there was any type of control group, I didn't see it mentioned in the story.

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    end of line
  5. Gas up the Mystery Machine, Scoob! by FearUncertaintyDoubt · · Score: 5, Funny
    Some scientists also claim it is the cause of the uneasy feelings and changes of emotion experienced in places believed to be haunted.

    Mr O'Keefe added: "When places affect people physically and they aren't able to explain it, they often attribute their feelings to being near a ghost."

    And I would've gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

  6. Re:Maybe it's good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think it's pretty clear God hates you. Sorry.

  7. Experimental Noise Has Been Here Already by zazas_mmmm · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is nothing new to listeners of avante garde noise rock.

    John Zorn experimented with high pitched frequencies outside of listeners' auditory range on Krystallnacht. Track 2 has high pitched frequencies that coexist with the sound of breaking glass that cause feelings of anger, pain and nausea. The liner notes discourage repeated listening (I kid you not).

    The Flaming Lips Did this on Zaireeka, their 4-CD (played simultaneously) experiment--wherein they used frequencies lower than the normal auditory range to create feelings of disorientation (funny since the Flaming Lips most pop-oriented songs can do this too).

    I'm sure more examples can be found within the annals of experimental noise rock.

    --
    I'm a friend of a friend of the working class.
  8. This could just as easily been called. . . by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

    How people are effected by the sound of tectonic plates moving, or how people are effected by the sound made by giant crickets from Mars ( which might well be good to know come the invasion)

    Are you ready to Ruuuuuuuuummmmmmmble?

    It's certainly no secret that people are effected by really, really low bass notes. As the article itself notes church organs have been using this trick to spice up the "Glory Hallelujahs" for centuries.

    The part that's interesting is that seems to be a mood *enhancer*, rather producing any specific effect, so if the power of the Lord is already moving you that organ is going to move you more.

    Let's hear it for the Church and gut level empiricism.

    Don't install one of these "sub-sub-woofers" if you have pissy neighbors though. It reminds of the Bill Cosby joke about cocaine:

    "It enhances my personality"

    "Yeah, but what if you're an asshole?"

    KFG

  9. deaf people fighting... by scubacuda · · Score: 5, Funny
    this will probably get trolled down...

    But oddly, this (for whatever friggin' reason) reminded me of a deaf couple I once saw fighting. The guy got really angry and closed his eyes. The lady was SO FURIOUS that he wasn't "listening" to her that she tried to PRY the other guy's eyes open with her fingers! What I wouldn't have given to know what they were talking about!

    (Am I a bastard for laughing HARDER b/c I knew that they couldn't hear me?)

  10. How does this reply affect your mood??? by w3svc_animal · · Score: 5, Funny

    .

    --

    Error encountered in IAWebSig.clsSig.Create: Last Procedure: sPrc_Ins_tblSig

  11. Binaural beats? by majestynine · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Binaural beats (stfw for loads of info) work by causing the brain to 'hear' the resulting frequency which would normally be outside of the human range of hearing (ie 4hz).

    This is done by playing two different frequencies into the different ears (ie 300 hz into one ear, 304 into the other: your brain then entrains to a 4hz frequency)

    Does anyone have any idea if this device could remove the need for the two frequencies by simply generating the Such things would be useful for brain washing, because if a speaker can put his audience into an alpha state (2/3hz), then they are more susceptible to impressions (thats why many religions use repeditive beating drums in their rituals etc)

  12. The Project's Website by Stinson · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found the project group's website at spacedog.biz, the webpage being specfically http://www.spacedog.biz/infrasonic.htm

  13. Ben Hur by jmichaelg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My father was a teenager in Los Angeles during the 20's. Years ago, he told me that the director of Ben Hur (I think the 1925 version) wanted a scene of a crowd stampeding. Since the crowd was comprised of extras who didn't have a lot of acting experience, the director induced panic by playing a note on a 20 foot long organ pipe. The note was infrasonic and generated a level of unease that the extras couldn't identify but when instructed to run, they willing complied.