Slashdot Mirror
Japanese Turning To "Therapeutic Ringtones"
indiavision writes "A host of young Japanese are drawn to the allure of 'therapeutic ringtones' — a genre of melodies that promises to ease a range of day-to-day gripes, from chronic insomnia to a rotten hangover. Developed by Matsumi Suzuki, the head of the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory, an eight-year-old subsidiary of the Japan Acoustic Laboratory, the tones are a hit with housewives as well as teenagers."
If the GP considers "morals" as being an indefinite substance rather than a countable quantity, "less" is correct.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a therapeutic ringtone.
or maybe "I wish some people on Slashdot were less anal"?
What's the Japanese for "There's a sucker born every minute"?
Sony.
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
I can't speak to Theraputic, but having a loud annoying ring tone affects the way most people answer the phone.
Something soothing sets the mood. Something loud or annoying tends to make people snap at the caller.
This was found when the first electronic handsets were introduced to offices. They came with a selection of ring tones and office managers quickly determined that setting the phones to use the more pleasant sounding the ring, lead to more civil answering, even during hectic times.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Scientists have proven that placebos work just as well as the leading anti-depressants for patients with mild or moderate depression! Placebos are cheap, versatile, and have soooooooo many uses! They are the new wonder drug!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Shouldn't the first letter of a sentence be capitalized?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
This does sound so cooky. I haven't read the article.. perhaps i should. But music can sometimes make me feel good. Certain music definitely feels be better in certain situations. I wont believe music will be able to cure physical ailments, but i see no reason why certain tones could help relieve stress.
Sounds can definitely have the opposite effect. I'm sure kids screaming on the public transport raises my bloody pressure and i know my alarm in the morning makes my heart beat much faster. Many other sounds can also bring about stress, such as the sound of my ex girl friends voice :/.
So couldn't sounds have a calming effect on the mind? The brain is also the centre of the body that controls a magnitude of chemicals that simulate other parts of the body. I think its very likely that sounds or music could interfere with this, just as they can in a negative way.
No it's probably not the sounds frequency but our interpretation of it and what feels good to one person may feel bad to another depending on their history. But i would guess that there are certain sounds that make everyone feel good this has it's roots in evolutionary theory.
Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
So you're saying housewives and teenagers across America are alerted to calls by the sound of Free Bird, and not Ke$sha? There's hope for this country yet.
the tones are a hit with housewives as well as teenagers.
Ah, the two most well-informed, fad-immune, money-conscious target markets out there. If anything was going to convince me that this wasn't just total bullshit, it would be the take up of this concept by those two groups. I'll take three, please.
Man, I thought that "Sony" meant "Coasting on the reputation you once deserved".
No wonder they say that Japanese is tricky...
The Ohana Sukkiri Melody emits a series of sounds at different frequencies "so that people can choose the sound that resonates most to their sinus and causes pollen lodged there to fall from the nasal cavity".
That settles it. Gotta have that one. Any sound powerful enough to dislodge pollen from one's sinuses has got to be a dangerous weapon.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
I didn't RTFA either, but my phone (I live in Japan) has a "Spa Menu", with a feature called "Healing Illumination" when turned on makes kind of peaceful sounds... sort of "ambient", as in the music genre, along with blinkenlights fading between "soothing" pale shades of colour. (Other settings on the menu are to display an hourglass or clock, presumably to keep yourself from being overcooked, the obvious music/radio/tv player and even a quiz section to brush up on your English or Maths while you soak)
To answer your question though, these sounds and light display can also be set up to be the result of an incoming call, so the answer is probably BOTH.
My phone is at least 2 years old though, so I'm guessing this "news" is a bit of an evolution of that. In case you are wondering what the obsession is with bathing, the phone is waterproof, so I guess when the phone was released taking it into the bath with you was a big selling point... Camera and all.