Annoyed by extraneous sounds. Why are some sounds annoying so hard
Like most living things on Earth, in our daily activities we rely on our feelings. And although we humans have five basic feelings, there can be twenty-one in all. However, one of the main feelings is the hearing, which allows us to pick up vibrations passing through the atmosphere and then transform them into something else, namely sounds.
Hearing allows us to listen to music, talk, and even helps us to sense a potential threat (for example, to hear a lion creeping up to us). It is surprising how the vibrations in the atmosphere can turn into sounds in our heads and what causes some sounds to give us pleasure, while others are wildly annoying.
1. Nail grinding on the board
Let's start this list with a particularly nasty sound: rattle your fingernails on the board. Among the many sounds that people do not like, it is considered one of the most unpleasant. But why? Why do we find this particular sound so unbearable? Apparently, this question has already interested even some scientists, so in 2011 they conducted research on this sound. Firstly, it turned out that the sound received during the grinding of nails on the board is in the middle range of sound vibrations, somewhere in the range of 2000-5000 Hz. This frequency is actually amplified by the human ear due to its shape; some believe that this happened as a result of evolution. It is in this range that primates give each other alarms, and this may be the reason that we hear these sounds better than others. However, this issue is still widely discussed.
However, this still does not explain why this sound is so annoying. In accordance with the previously mentioned study, it turned out that context plays an important role here. Two dozen participants were connected to sensors that analyzed their heart rate, electrodermal activity, and sweating rate, and then were exposed to a number of annoying sounds. Participants were then asked to rate the extent of the discomfort for each of them. Half of the volunteers were accurately named the source of each sound, and the other half said that unpleasant sounds were part of some kind of musical work of art. And although their physical reactions were the same - increased heart rate, sweating of palms and the like - people from the first half often called these sounds annoying than those who considered them to be part of a modern musical composition. So, as it turns out, we do not necessarily hate the sound itself, we hate the picture that appears before our mental gaze: the movement of nails on the board. The same applies to most other sounds, such as the noise of a working drill, a knife strike on the glass, the grinding of forks on a plate or teeth, or the creaking of polystyrene foam.
2. Loud chewing
Have you ever been surrounded by people who chew their food so loud and sloppy that there is a desire to hit them? If not, then you are very lucky. We are talking here about our own experiences. You must have heard this too, but not paid attention. If so, then you are one of the few lucky ones who do not suffer from a mild form of "misophony", or "sound hatred." The term itself was coined back in the early 2000s, when a group of scientists studied tinnitus. But misophony includes discomfort not only from ringing in the ears, but also that discomfort that some people feel from other sounds made by a person, such as chewing, panting, clicking a finger, yawning, snoring, or even whistling. As it turns out, the repetitive nature of these sounds is partly to blame. And, strangely enough, misophony can also spread to such things as fidgeting, in which no sounds are made at all.
A mild form of reaction of people who are exposed to these sounds is irritation, disgust, discomfort, or a desire to leave. But the reactions can be more serious: some people experience anger, anger, a feeling of deep hatred, panic, a strong desire to kill the culprit, and sometimes even thoughts of suicide appear. And, as you can imagine, these people are extremely difficult to fit into modern society. As a rule, they tend to avoid such meetings as often as possible, eat alone or even try to live in complete isolation. Although misophony is not fully understood and has not been thoroughly analyzed, it is known that most of the world's population is exposed to its mild form and its symptoms are often associated with anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, the true reasons for its appearance are still largely a mystery. Doctors believe that these reasons are partly physical, partly mental. Misophonia is usually exacerbated around the age of 9 to 13 years and is more common in girls. But whether it is a separate disorder or is it just a side effect of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, no one knows for sure.
3. A haunting tune stuck in my head
Have you ever sounded the same melody in your head that repeats over and over like a broken record? Of course yes. It happened to everyone. Worst of all, it's not even a whole song, it's just a small part of it that repeats endlessly, doesn't it? These annoying little passages ruin the life of humanity for a very long time. The reasons for their appearance are quite complex, but they include a combination of things such as stress, altered emotional states, distracted consciousness, and memory associations. That is why sometimes, when you hear the word “mother”, “Bohemian rhapsody” begins to sound in your head. What is interesting about these tunes is that about 90% of people suffer from them at least once a week, while in a quarter of the population this happens several times a day. This often occurs when we do a monotonous repetitive job that does not require a lot of attention.
Most often, such a annoying melody is a refrain - as a rule, this is all that we remember from the song. Due to the fact that we do not remember the rest, we tend to repeat this refrain again and again and again, trying to find a possible end, which actually has not survived in our memory. It can also be described to some extent as involuntary auditory imagination. But scientists have still not found out whether these melodies are simply a by-product of our inactive brain or whether they are more important. However, the researchers found that if you deal with word-related tasks such as creating anagrams or reading a fascinating novel, these obsessive melodies tend to go away. The key is to find a task that is attractive enough, but not too complicated, because otherwise your mind will begin to wander again.
4. Crying baby
A person hears the crying of a child even against the background of a take-off airplane, and there is an explanation for this. This is because we are all prone to this, regardless of any circumstances. All of us. And, as it turns out, the sound of a child crying attracts our attention more than any other sound in the world. In a study conducted by scientists from Oxford, it turned out that the sound of a crying child immediately causes an intense reaction in our brain, especially in those areas that are responsible for emotions, speech, reaction to threats, as well as in control centers of various senses. The response to this particular sound is so fast that the brain marks it as very important even before it has time to fully recognize it.
All volunteers who participated in this study were exposed to a series of sounds, including the crying of adults or various animals that experience pain or suffering. Not a single sound provoked such an intense and immediate reaction as the crying of a child. Moreover, not one of the 28 volunteers was a parent and had no experience in caring for babies. This means that we respond to the sound of a crying baby, whether we are his parents or not. Even more interesting is the fact that immediately after people hear this cry, they increase their overall physical performance and accelerate reflexes, which can facilitate the necessary actions. So when you get on a plane with a crying baby, you will inadvertently trigger an alarm. And since you are not a parent and there is nothing you can do about this crying, you end up feeling frustrated and annoyed.
5. Vuvuzela
It appeared around 1910 and was created by Isaiah Shembe, the self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa. The instrument was originally made of reed and wood, and later versions were made of metal. Vuvuzela was used as a religious instrument, which was played along with African drums during church ceremonies. But as the number of church followers grew, the vuvuzela became so widespread that it began to be used during football matches in South Africa in the 1980s. By 1990, the market for South Africa was flooded with mass-produced plastic vuvuzels. Soon they became an integral part of the general atmosphere of sports in the country. Then, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, held in South Africa, the vuvuzela, like a wildfire, spread throughout the globe.
Being a novelty among foreign fans and due to its volume, the vuvuzela soon became popular in competitions in other sports. But her rapidly acquired popularity was short-lived. It is one thing when a professional trumpeter plays on it accompanied by drums or other instruments, and another thing when hundreds or even thousands of football fans use it at the stadium. In addition to the fact that some viewers suffered from temporary hearing loss due to the volume of the vuvuzela, the sounds made by many instruments in different tones and with different frequencies resemble a huge swarm of angry wasps. This sound is so annoying that it can ruin even watching TV. Moreover, the fact that you cannot control the noise source exacerbates the situation. Therefore, FIFA has banned the use of vuvuzels during the next World Cup, held in Brazil.
6. Vomiting
Are you one of those people who begin to feel sick at the sight of another sick person? Or does it happen even when you hear just talking about it? Well, if that is so, then we have news for you, both good and bad. Let's start with the bad news. There is nothing you can do about it. Point. This is how your brain works, and there is nothing that can change this situation. But here is the good news: you are an empathic person. You are the person who has the ability to feel the same as others, and you empathize with them. You are the one that some call a good friend or partner. Your brain has certain “mirror neurons” that make you copy what others are doing or feel the feelings of others.
Because of these mirror neurons, you can also consider yourself an improved human being - in the literal sense of the word. Believe it or not, what annoys you when others feel sick can one day just save your life. Some scholars have concluded that this mirror image is an evolutionary trait of a person as a community creature. Even in prehistoric times, when people lived in small communities, if one or more of them felt sick, this was probably the result of eating spoiled foods or poisoning with poison. Thus, this mirror image was, in fact, a proactive measure to get rid of any potential poison even before it began to act.
7. Other people's disputes
Judging by the television shows, it seems that people dislike other people's disputes rather than annoy them. But there is a difference, and it is due to where the argument is. If you watch TV while sitting on your sofa at home, it can be quite interesting to look at people who are ready to argue on any issue; it may even increase your personal self-esteem. But if you are in the kitchen and your roommates start arguing about whose turn it is to wash the dishes or who raised the toilet seat, it can be quite inconvenient for you to be in the same room with them. Not only that, you can also engage in a dispute by declaring your opinion, or even, God forbid, take sides, but the fact is that these people are not indifferent to you anyway ... at least to some degrees. The subject of the dispute also plays an important role, whether it offends your interests, and, first of all, whether you want to take part in it yourself.
But the main reason why we find these intimate disputes so annoying and unnecessary is rooted in our childhood, in our parents' domestic disputes. Children of all ages, both very young and teenagers, are very susceptible to the battles of their parents. And here the fact of the dispute is not important, but rather, its result. For many years, physiologists have analyzed the impact of family squabbles on children and found that even if a dispute is inevitable, it can be productive. Children should see that their parents have finished arguing more peaceful than they started it. In this way, they learn conflict resolution and compromise. If this does not happen, then they grow up with a fear of potential conflicts and will always try to avoid them, even if it is wrong.
8. Phone chatter
Back in 1880, Mark Twain wrote an essay entitled “A Telephone Conversation”. It was only four years after Alexander Graham Bell presented his invention to the world. In this essay, Twain makes fun of how such a conversation sounds from an outsider who can only hear half the conversation. But what made him write this essay is one of the most annoying reasons today. As it turned out, our brains are in the habit of anticipating what will happen. Thus, whether we want it or not, when we listen to someone’s conversation, we really do not just perceive the information, but at the same time prepare our answer and try to find out what this person wants to say next. This happens involuntarily, and we all do it.
The Theory of Consciousness suggests that we have direct access only to our own consciousness; thoughts of other people we perceive only through analogy and comparison. And we successfully cope with this, at various shows there are people who repeat what was said before them as quickly as they express their own thoughts. But if speech becomes unpredictable, with random words, then our brain is in difficulty. And this is what drives us crazy. This is the reason why we are so annoyed by telephone conversations when we hear only one interlocutor. We cannot predict what a person is going to say next.
9. Spitting, coughing, sobbing and, of course, farting
Almost everyone classifies these sounds as disgusting or at least annoying. In addition to the fact that all these actions can annoy the actual sound, they can cause inconvenience for other reasons. First, some social factors may occur. For example, people from the UK find them more annoying and disgusting than South Americans - probably due to cultural differences. In addition, older people also often find them unpleasant, hinting at the idea that they are not used to hearing these sounds in public places. It can also be due to a decrease in sexual desire. Scientists are still discussing this issue.
Another reason may be that these sounds are associated with secretions and excrement. These things are often associated with pathogens and diseases, and this explains why people tend to be disgusted or even try to get distracted when they hear them. A study at Salford University found that women of all ages find these sounds more disgusting than their male counterparts. This may be due to the fact that traditionally women play a dual role as defenders - they protect themselves and children. But, again, this may be due to social factors.
10. The infamous "brown note"
Finally, we will analyze the hypothetically existing “brown note”. This is an ultra-low frequency sound somewhere between 5 and 9 Hz, which is below the perception threshold of the human ear. But if the sound is loud enough, it can be felt in the body as a vibration. And, as its name implies, this particular frequency is rumored to cause an involuntary fatal eruption that turns the pants brown. This can be very unpleasant, right?
The whole brown note story began with the Republic XF-84H Thunderscreech in 1955. It was an experimental aircraft with a gas turbine engine and a supersonic propeller. It is reported that even when idling on the ground, this propeller made about 900 sound claps every minute, and this caused nausea, severe headache, and sometimes involuntary bowel contraction in others. The project was closed, as some crew members received serious injuries as a result of sound strikes. It is possible that the Thunderscreech was the loudest than any aircraft ever built, people could hear it for 40 kilometers.
In any case, after rumors about the possible unpleasant consequences of exposure to ultra-low frequencies over the years, countless experiments were carried out, but without any “brown” results. This was even done by NASA, which feared that astronauts might need to change spacesuits after launching into space. So the myth of the “brown note” appeared (it was even used in the episode of the film “South Park”). In 2005, the Legend Breakers program conducted an experiment with the participation of Adam Savage, but all he felt was like someone was drumming on his chest, nothing else happened. Of course, it is possible that the conditions accompanying the testing of a supersonic aircraft were not modeled with due accuracy, and the “brown frequency” does exist, but the chances are small. But what if it really is, and someone decides to find commercial use for it - can you imagine what a child can do with such an invention on Sunday in church?
Sitting at the computer, you hear water flowing from a faucet in the kitchen, and it seems that every drop hits the temples with a hammer. Experts believe that imperceptible, but monotonous noise affects our well-being most of all.
Sensitivity itself
Most of the day we don’t notice how much we are affected by sounds - loud and quiet, sharp and monotonous, pleasant and unbearable. Meanwhile, the surrounding world can be compared with the sound of a large symphony orchestra. True, not during the concert, but three minutes before it begins, when the musicians tune their instruments.
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Why not hear if you listen carefully. The roar of the motorway, birdsong, a popular song on the radio, a mobile ringtone and the voice of a loved one in the phone and, of course, the unchanging neighbor from below, who arranged a locksmith's workshop in his apartment. And who you are in this orchestra - a soloist, an ordinary performer, just a listener or a conductor - depends on the perception of this world. Usually from the huge variety of sounds we grab only those that we want to hear. Psychologists attribute this to the fact that the hearing organs primarily catch signals warning us of danger. So, for example, the car owner, being in a noisy room, immediately understands that his car's alarm went off, while the rest, most likely, will not pay attention to the howling siren. Surely similar sound metamorphoses happened to you. Remember how during a noisy party I was able to distinguish a barely audible mobile signal, because I was waiting for a call from my beloved. Although even half a minute ago, I couldn’t hear the words from what my friend tried to scream.
Influence factor
However, sound carries not only an informative function. It directly affects health. If you feel that you have become more irritable and forgetful, you notice that headaches are increasingly tormented, and fatigue and weakness sometimes reach a swoon, it is time to turn off the volume. And think seriously.
The breakdown and deterioration of the psychological state is explained not only by poor ecology, motionless lifestyle and unhealthy diet. Let quiet, but annoying noises bring us out of balance no less than the cry of the boss or the rattle of metal.
The norm for the human ear is considered to be a volume level of 20-30 decibels (dB), and the extremely high level of the natural noise background should not exceed 80 dB. This means that such pleasures as a rock concert (100 dB) lasting several hours, cleaning with a vacuum cleaner to the best of your childhood hits or cooking your favorite whipped cream (about 90 dB) in a mixer should be dosed.
Hiding threat
The danger lies in the fact that you can not pay attention to the barely audible noise of a working computer, air conditioning, hood or from the motorway somewhere far outside the window. But negative consequences for the body without attention will be more difficult.
“Any noise adversely affects not only hearing. A relatively quiet, but monotonous hum becomes a cause of constant irritation of the auditory nerve, through which, in turn, the signals reach the brain, ”explains the otolaryngologist Irina Onuchak.Interacting with the center of the cardiovascular system located there, nerve impulses increase vascular tone, and therefore blood pressure in general, which ultimately can lead to the development of hypertension.
The respiratory system also suffers, because under the influence of noises of various nature there is a steady decrease in the frequency and depth of breathing - and the lungs begin to work not at full strength. Noise can also damage the digestive organs: danger signals received from the gastrointestinal tract from the brain can lead to dysfunction of the stomach and liver, and also seriously impair intestinal motility. And this, in turn, can provoke peptic ulcer disease (a professional ailment of pop singers who spend most of their lives listening to music).
Under the influence of noise, even the biochemical composition of the blood can change! Gradually affecting metabolic processes and immunity, irritating sound can reduce the production of vital antibodies.
TWO YEARS OF FAVORITE MUSIC AT FULL VOLUME (90dB) - AND HEARING DECREASES BY 30%
New mode
“Quiet noise” (80 dB) negatively affects not only your physical health, but also your psycho-emotional state. “Although its effect cannot be called a purely psychological phenomenon, active stimuli in the form of a constant hum and annoying noises cannot but affect the state of mind,” says the psychologist Anna Kartashova. “And the degree of negative influence strongly depends on the person himself: both on general health and temperament.”
“The prolonged exposure to noise depresses conditioned reflex activity,” explains the neurologist and reflexologist Galina Kozlova. - The body begins to focus all its attention on the new stimulus in order to decide how to act in this situation. If the sound is strong and sharp, there is braking - the reaction slows down. And any monotonous repeating hum is annoying. The consequences of such “acoustic stress” accumulate in the body and ultimately inhibit the functioning of the entire central nervous system. Which contributes to rapid fatigue and weakening of attention. " Of course, it does not at all follow from this that it is worth putting on ear plugs and not removing them all day long. An experiment in a design bureau where engineers suffered from the monotonous noise of devices showed that deathly silence is also harmful to mental health. Ensuring maximum sound insulation for themselves, engineers tired of noise very soon realized that they were just going crazy with oppressive silence.
Can be quiet
To protect yourself from noise, it is not enough to limit external stimuli. “Hearing is a necessary means of communication, cognition and adaptation to the environment, which ensures the formation of positive and negative emotions,” says Galina Kozlova. “With the complete absence of sound stimuli, many disorders of mental activity can develop, including hallucinations.” Therefore, before taking radical soundproofing measures, listen to the surroundings. Most likely, it will be enough to turn the volume knob.
For example, in a month you talk on your mobile phone for 144 minutes. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the volume level of the internal and external speakers of the phone - it should not exceed 10 dB. So you significantly reduce the risk of nervous disorders. The rule also applies to player volume. “Try to listen to music so that it does not drown out the natural sounds of the environment,” the otolaryngologist advises. Daria Sherstopalova. - This is especially true for music lovers. Adjust the volume so that you can hear what is happening around. ” Also make it a rule not to listen to music on headphones for more than half an hour.
One of the reasons for fast fatigue is the monotonous buzz of office equipment. Noise arises as a result of the ventilation system. You are quite able to turn down the volume. Cool the computer processor by rearranging the system unit from the floor to a special stand - so it will begin to “breathe” and begin to make less noise.
If you can’t completely protect yourself from unpleasant sounds, learn make the most of it of pleasant ones. Replace the ringtone and alarm with the calmer signals. Use also some sounds like a cure. Historians have confirmed that Bach's Geldberg Variations were written to reassure listeners. And Japanese scientists invented a means for a peaceful sleep - making pillows rain (the sound of evenly pouring water has a frequency that blocks the noise in the ears).
Arrange small relaxation sessions at work: find 7-10 minutes per hour to stay in a quiet place and relax by closing your eyes and inhaling and exhaling deeply. This will significantly reduce stress and relieve accumulated irritation. At home, try to reduce television shows. This is not only about direct viewing, but also about the "background" operation of the TV. The barely audible sound of the next television show will interfere with your concentration and will distract you during conversations with your family, making it really difficult to communicate closely with your family.
Spend sound therapy in nature: walk through the forest or park, listening to the rustle of the wind and the birds singing. Spend part of the walk with a blindfold: this way you will feel more gentle and healing sounds. If you can’t relax, imagine a light wave running through your face, which gradually relieves tension. Together with him, irritation from noise will also go away.
Learn to relax completely - and unnecessary noise will go away. To do this, find the pulse of the carotid artery on the neck, click on it. Count to five and let go. Breathe deeply. With your thumb, feel for the hollow at the base of the skull and click on it, counting to three, then let go. Repeat this exercise three times.
Elina Fadeeva
Photo East News (1)
Ecology of life. Science and discoveries: There are several reasons for how we perceive sound - evolutionary, physiological and cultural. Let's try to figure it all out.
Different sounds annoy people. Someone can not stand chomping or noisy breathing, someone - snoring, crunching fingers or creaking foam. At the same time, some sounds not only annoy, but also cause real strong emotional reactions - anger, anger, fear, disgust.
Evolution
Studies have shown that people perceive sounds of a certain frequency as unpleasant. Human hearing especiallysusceptible to sounds in the range from 2000 to 5000 Hz. In this interval there are many sounds that make many feel uncomfortable - creak of polystyrene foam, scratching with a knife on a plate, screams.
The way we perceive sounds in this range is inherent in us evolution thousands of years ago. The hearing aid helped to detect the danger much faster than other senses, so people still subconsciously sharply react to sounds that resemble the cries of predators or the creak of their claws. The unpleasant sensations that we are experiencing now, and the desire to take refuge are the instinct of self-preservation inherent in primitive man. We did not get rid of it because man as a species ceased to depend on wildlife just recently - from the point of view of evolution.
Hyperacusia
Hyperacusia is a disorder of the auditory apparatus, due to which sounds cause a disproportionate reaction of perception, are painful, louder and more unpleasant than they really are. However, the sounds themselves do not have to be too loud, unpleasant or annoying.
Hyperacusia can be a symptom of a serious neurological disease. In addition, some diseases of the inner ear, head injuries, infections, and tumors can cause it.
Misophonia
Hyperacusia is a disease of the organs of our body that affects the perception of sounds. Another disorder that changes attitudes to certain sounds ismisophonia neurological disease.
Misophony is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity. In people suffering from this disorder, for example, the creak of nails on the glass causes not just irritation, but also a whole gamut of reactions - from anxiety to a flash of rage or a panic attack. The name of the disorder literally translates as "hatred of sounds."
In general, this disease has not been studied much, so there are many hypotheses about its origin and treatment. Misophonia may be a reaction to a previous (negative) experience associated with certain sounds. In this case, the trigger sounds can cause a completely disproportionate reaction: the sound of chewing - a flash of rage, the cry of a child - panic, and so on. Misophonia can be one of the signs of post-traumatic neurosis, about the real source and causes of which a person could already forget.
Misophonia can also be a sign of a larger disease - for example, there areresearch whose authors tried to associate misophony with obsessive-compulsive disorders or even describe it as one of the varieties of OCD.
Another interesting hypothesisdescribes misophony as an anomaly of the brain, the result of atypical connections between the auditory cortex, which processes sound, and the limbic system, which is responsible, in particular, for the formation of emotions.
To test this theory, a sample of people with misophonia was offered to listen to different sounds: neutral ones, for example, the sound of rain, generally unpleasant (screaming), and sounds that the participants in the experiment found unpleasant (crunching a packet, the roar of a subway car, etc.). During the experiment, brain tomograms were taken.
Studyrevealed that in people with misophony, the islet lobe of the cerebral cortex, which (including) provides the interaction between physical sensations and emotions, works differently. Trigger sounds cause an “overload” - an overly emotional reaction. According to this theory, misophonia can be inherited.
Culture
Bad sounds are also an interesting cultural phenomenon.
For example, some sound that annoys in ordinary life can cause a completely different reaction in experimental jazz composition or at a concert of modern academic music.
Similar studies were also. Two groups of subjects were given the opportunity to listen to the same sounds of chalk creaking on the board. The first group was told what kind of sounds they were, and the second was explained that it was part of the musical composition. The physiological reactions to the sounds were the same, but the assessment of what was heard by the subjects themselves was different - those who supposedly listened to music,appreciated experience is higher.
« Noise "- one of the genres of industrial music and a frequent guest in other musical genres. Noise is an unwanted and unpleasant sound by definition. Therefore, noise in music is at the same time a legacy of the industrial revolution, and a cultural challenge, and “purified sound”, proto-sounds that exist outside the limits of “academic” harmonics.published If you have any questions about this topic, ask them to specialists and readers of our project.
Hello. From childhood, such sounds as snoring, clicking of seeds, champing, and the sound of neighbors were annoying. They made noise and forgot.
Today it’s more difficult, I’m 32 years old, married, daughter 2 years old. Nowadays, the sounds from neighbors are mostly annoying, even if the TV is quiet, foot stamping, loud and not very loud conversations and laughter, car signals, music (mostly tyts-tyts-tyts, if something is classical, it is more or less acceptable )
Calmer in the summer. In the summer I open the window and the noise of the street drowns out. Monotonous sounds are not annoying. I also specially turn on a washing machine in the evening, cook with an extractor hood and “forget to turn it off”, for a child cartoons or just a radio. Just not to drown out the "other people". For hours I can think through scenes and dialogues in which one way or another influenced the situation. I wind up, exhaust myself, exhaust myself. Sleeping problems, eternal lack of sleep, because I go to bed only when I’m sure that the neighbors fell asleep or when there is already no strength. And in the morning again - the neighbors watch the news. And the weekend is music. I hate the weekend because of this. Therefore, Friday is terrible.
I tried to meditate, relax, soothing to drink, not to think, just to accept, not to pay attention, since all ordinary people and "just watch the news in the evening" are normal. And yes, poor sound insulation, what to do. But no, if quietly, waiting for the trick, I listen carefully and find sounds so quiet that they may not even exist, but I get angry and nervous. It manifests itself as a sharp pain in the chest, and then spreads throughout the body. Even the hand at times begins to be taken away.
Compounding the fact that I am constantly at home. Already the third year. In the decree.
Delving into it, I realized that it’s precisely what people’s actions annoy — do they really don’t understand what they are doing? Really it is impossible to lay a carpet, but not to knock heels. After 23, you need to make it quieter. I try not to make noise. I try to make everything honest and correct. here - incorrectly parked cars, rudeness, ignorance, rudeness, cigarette butts on the street, etc.
What to do with it?
Psychologists Answers
Catherine
What to do with it?
Work with your anxious state, find the reason when, due to which there was a fixation on the sounds, why in your understanding “living right” is equal to “living quietly, inaudibly”.
Fill life with meaning so that there is no time
Catherine
waiting for the trick, listening
Nagornova Natalya Anatolyevna, psychologist Samara
Good answer1 Bad answer1Catherine
I try not to make noise. I try to make everything honest and correct. here - incorrectly parked cars, rudeness, ignorance, rudeness, cigarette butts on the street, etc., etc. are annoying. What should I do with this?
Perhaps now, when you read it, you will not accept and understand it.
You have a global rejection of yourself. You don’t let yourself live, you are inventing some kind of “quiet” life, so that it is you who are not to be heard, and you are still not visible in the decree.
Or you will wake up now, and listen to the real self - that which still has the opportunity to give a chance to live! Or...
Matveev Valery Anatolyevich Hypnosis Self-hypnosis Psychologist Togliatti
Good answer3 Bad answer0Catherine. There is life. And she sounds. And, yes, not always classical music.
It sounds in all and many things. And, in a seemingly meaningless “tyts-tyts-tyts”, in loud and not very conversations, in the clatter of bare heels on the floor, and in the sweet snoring tired for the day. Good soundproofing in only one place. But, here only there is no life.
Let's be honest. Judging by your letter, it’s not the sounds themselves that annoy you
Catherine
In summer I open the window and the noise of the street drowns out. Monotonous sounds are not annoying.
The sounds of the life of others annoy you.
Catherine
Just not to drown out the "other people".
And here you are, fooling yourself. You are trying by all means and in every possible way to "drown out others."
Catherine
I also specially turn on a washing machine in the evening, cook with an extractor hood and “forget to turn it off”, for a child cartoons or just a radio.
Catherine
Delving into it, I realized that it’s precisely what people’s actions annoy — do they really don’t understand what they are doing? Really it is impossible to lay a carpet, but not to knock heels. After 23, you need to make it quieter. I try not to make noise. I try to make everything honest and correct.
Indeed, why did they consult with you to lay a carpet for them, or love to run pink heels on the floor just washed in their own house (Oh, I tell you, this is a special pleasure). Laugh them today or cry? What kind of music to listen to, classical or rap? Which channel to watch? How could they? Live your little private life guided by your own desires?
And, Catherine, you sound too. Only not outside. Inside: voices in the head, sorting out relationships with careless neighbors. Resonate with irritation: "they are doing everything wrong, and they are happy."
And even if it’s quiet and everything froze ...
Catherine
But no, if quietly, waiting for the trick, I listen carefully and find sounds so quiet that they may not even exist, but I get angry and nervous. It manifests itself as a sharp pain in the chest, and then spreads throughout the body.
I'm afraid not to hear this life. Then how and who can I get mad at?
Catherine
Even the hand at times begins to be taken away.
Knock on the wall and hear the answer? Yes, you can’t.
Catherine
Compounding the fact that I am constantly at home. Already the third year. In the decree.
Catherine, I’ll say that you definitely don’t like it. You also want to ...: make noise, not think about correctness, get out of the routine. Maybe you should try to afford it? For starters, at least 15 minutes a day? But it’s so simple, just 15 minutes - do this, then want? Dance with a child to loud music, jump with him on the bed, sing? Just 15 minutes a day of irregularity? 15 minutes to feel life? And be alive? For yourself and for your daughter?
Like most living things on Earth, feelings and sensations help a person navigate in space. And, despite the fact that people have officially recognized only five basic feelings, in fact, there are more. Nevertheless, the feeling of sound is one of the most basic, it helps us to pick up vibrations (generating pressure waves) through an intermediary, they are usually air, which turn into something completely different - sound.
Thanks to this feeling, we can listen to music, communicate verbally, and hear the impending threat. The path that these vibrations go through before being formed into sound is truly amazing; it depends on it whether it will be pleasant or annoying for the human ear.
Perhaps we will start our list with a truly terrifying and annoying sound - everyone remembers the grinding of nails on a blackboard. In the list of sounds that annoy people the most, this one takes a leading position. But why exactly is he so disgusted with human hearing? The same question tormented some scientists, and they decided to conduct a study in 2011. This unpleasant sound belongs to the midrange and is in the range from 2000 to 5000 Hz, the human ear, due to its shape, amplifies mid-range sounds. Perhaps this is a matter of evolution: the hazard warning sounds made by the monkeys are also located at approximately this frequency. This fact may well explain the reason that it is these sounds that seem louder to a person than in reality. Many question this explanation.
However, the reason it is very annoying for most people is still unclear. According to the above study, it all depends on the context. About two hundred people were involved in the experiment, during which they were connected to monitors that recorded changes in the heartbeat, skin-electrical activity and the level of sweat produced under the influence of irritating sounds. Then the subjects were asked to evaluate the level of annoyance of sounds on a certain scale. Half of the participants in the test named their source, the other presented them as part of a piece of music. But, nevertheless, the reaction of the body remained unchanged: heart palpitations, sweaty palms, etc. It should be noted that people who named the source of the sounds rated them more annoying than those who listened to them as part of the musical composition. Perhaps the sound in itself is not so unpleasant, the effect is enhanced by what we see. Other similar sounds, for example, from a working drill; from a knife that slides over a glass; the forks we hold on the plate or on the teeth; polystyrene sheets that rub against each other - they all fall into the same category.
Champing
Have you ever had lunch in the company of those who chew or champ loudly? If so, then you most likely also wanted to give them a slap in the face. But, if suddenly this did not happen to you, then you are lucky. What we tell here comes solely from personal experience. Most likely, you also heard this, but just did not pay attention. If this is so, then you are twice lucky, because misophony (intolerance to certain sounds) is unusual for you. The term itself appeared in the early 2000s, when a group of scientists began to study tinnitus. But misophony refers not only to this phenomenon, but to the unpleasant sensations that people experience when hearing certain sounds: champing, panting, tapping with fingers, yawning, crunching fingers, snoring and even whistling. As it turned out, the point here is that the sound is repeated at a certain frequency. Surprisingly, misophony is also associated with hostility to yawning, although this process has nothing to do with the auditory perception of reality.
The normal reaction of people suffering from misophony can be irritation, disgust, discomfort, even the desire to leave. But sometimes it happens that people react much harder, falling into a panic, rage or experiencing strong hatred. Sometimes it even comes to the desire to kill a person who makes an annoying sound, or suicidal thoughts arise. Such people, of course, find it very difficult to be in society, they try to avoid dangerous meetings with others and eat alone or completely isolate themselves from society. Misophony is still not well understood, but there are really many people suffering from it. Symptoms are usually associated with irritation, depression, and even an obsessive-compulsive (obsessive) condition. It is still unclear what causes this irritation, doctors believe that both physical and psychological aspects are involved. Misophonia begins to manifest in adolescence, most often found in girls. But the question of whether this phenomenon can be recognized as a disease, or is it just an obsessive state, is still open.
Earworm (intrusive tunes)
Has it ever happened to you that the same song is playing in your head, as if the record were stuck? Of course, this happened to everyone. Worst of all, it's not even the whole song, but a small passage or refrain, right? This annoying nonsense is called an earworm, it has tormented humanity for a long time. There are always several reasons for this phenomenon, here are the main ones: stress, increased emotional sensitivity, soaring in the clouds, associative series. That’s why you start singing the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen when someone says the word “mother”. In fact, 90% of people experience this condition at least once a week, while a quarter of us experience it several times a day. Most often, this condition occurs when we do routine work, on which we do not need to concentrate very much.
By the way, we give a tooth, now you are humming "Bohemian rhapsody", right? Well, let's move on ...
Most often, the chorus gets stuck in our heads, because we remember this part of the song most quickly. And, since we do not know the whole song, we repeat the chorus again and again in our memory, trying to reach the end, which is actually not there. Earworms are also, to some extent, related to the auditory imagination. To date, scientists can not clearly say whether obsessive melodies have any higher purpose, besides the ability to give the brain a little rest. As a result of research, it was also found that people who do verbal exercises, read anagrams or a fascinating novel, do not hear intrusive melodies in their heads. The idea is that the brain is busy with something not very complicated, then the earworms will never come to you.
Baby crying is one of the most annoying and unpleasant sounds.
If every time you fly on an airplane, it seems to you that a child is crying somewhere, we will tell you about the causes of this phenomenon. It's just that the human brain is so programmed. It turns out that crying a child always attracts our attention more than any other sound in the world. Oxford scientists conducted an experiment in which it became clear that when a person hears a baby’s crying, several of his brain centers immediately respond to this: emotional, speech, “hit or run” mechanism, pleasure centers for several senses at once. The reaction of the brain to it is so lightning fast that, even recognizing it only partially, it is perceived as very important.
All the volunteers who took part in the study were given various sounds, including the crying of adults, the cries of animals in pain, none of the sounds caused such a violent reaction of the brain as crying a child. Moreover, none of the 28 volunteers had children, and not one of them had ever been left alone with babies. This means that every person instinctively reacts to the crying of the child, regardless of whether he has his own children or not. An interesting fact is that immediately after a person has heard crying, his body is mobilized, which contributes to a quick transition to a care regimen. So, it doesn’t matter if you have children or not, you will still react to children's cries and there is nothing you can do about it.
Vuvuzela
The history of the vuvuzel begins in 1910, with Isaiah Shembe, the self-proclaimed preacher and founder of the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa. Initially, this tool was made of cane, then of metal, usually it was used for services in the church. And at the same time, as the number of followers of this church increased, the more widespread was the vuvuzela; in the 80s of the 20th century, it began to appear at football stadiums in South Africa. In the 90s mass production of plastic vuvuzel covered South Africa, this tool has become an integral part of sporting events in the country. Vuvuzela was widely distributed in 2010 after the FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Africa.
Being something new and having a very loud sound, the vuvuzela gradually entered other sports. But her loud fame was short-lived: with the simultaneous sound of several vuvuzels, a loud sound was produced so that some fans lost their hearing for a while and it seemed that somewhere there was a crowd of evil dwarfs nearby. This sound annoys the ear even when broadcasting the match on TV, and the fact that a person cannot control its source worsens the situation. In general, the whole story with the vuvuzela quickly came to naught, already at the next FIFA championship in Brazil they were forbidden to use.
Gagging
And you start to feel sick when you hear someone's gagging or when someone just talks about it? If your answer is yes, then we have two news for you: good and bad. We suggest starting with the bad - you can do nothing about it, the human brain works like this. And that’s it. But there is good news: a similar reflex suggests that you are an empath. Yes, you can really feel what others are feeling and empathize with them. You are the one who is called a good person or partner. The so-called “mirror” neurons work well in your brain, which make you copy the behavior and feelings of others.
The presence of these very neurons suggests that you have reached the highest stage of evolution, conditionally, of course. Believe it or not, this kind of reflex can one day save your life. Scientists believe that such behavior is characteristic only of man, since he is a social being. Let us return to prehistoric times when people lived in very small communities: if one or several residents of the community began to feel sick, this could mean that the food was spoiled or poisonous, and only the gag reflex could save the rest from poisoning. That is, such behavior simply helped our ancestors survive.
Swearing other people
With the advent of various programs on the TV screens such as the Jerry Springer Show and, of course, the broadcast of the last presidential election in the United States, it begins to seem that people just love to arrange showdowns and do not find them irritable at all. To some extent, this is true while you are on the other side of the screen and just look at all this. If you are lying on the couch and watching TV, then, of course, it's fun to watch others swear. You may even begin to feel better. But, for example, if you are in the kitchen and your neighbors begin to swear because of who is washing the dishes today, or who left the toilet seat up, you will definitely feel uncomfortable being next to them. And it is not necessary for you to take part in the conflict, it is enough that these people are not indifferent to you even a little. The subject of the dispute and your desire to take part in it also play a role.
Our attitude to conflict situations depends on how parents solved them. Children at any age, whether they are a year or fifteen, are very sensitive to parental quarrels. This does not primarily concern the subject of the dispute, but the final result. For many years, psychologists have studied the effects of parental conflicts on children, and despite the fact that you can’t do without disputes, you can even benefit from them. It is important that the children see that after resolving the conflict, the parents become a little better, then they can understand the true meaning of compromise, accepting other people and resolving conflict situations. If this does not happen, then in adulthood such children will be afraid of conflict, avoiding contentious situations in every possible way.
Phone chatter
In 1880, Mark Twain wrote an essay entitled "A Telephone Conversation." It happened just 4 years after Alexander Bell invented it. In this essay, Twain is ironic about how a telephone conversation is perceived by a third party who hears only half the conversation. What led him to write this work, and today is the reason that we are annoyed by other people's phone calls. The fact is that the human brain is inclined to predict events. It doesn’t matter if we do it consciously or unconsciously, when we listen to someone else’s telephone conversation, we don’t have enough information and we can’t predict what the speaker will say next. All people do this, and you can’t influence it in any way.
This phenomenon is directly related to the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe “theory of consciousness”, which consists in the fact that a person has access only to his own consciousness, and you can get it through introspection, we can try to understand others by the same analogy and by comparison. And people are quite capable of it. There were cases when people repeated almost word for word what their interlocutor was going to say. But if part of the conversation is inaccessible to perception, the brain cannot model the answer, which drives it crazy. It is for this reason that other people’s telephone conversations annoy us, because we cannot predict what a person will say in the next minute.
Spitting, coughing, sniffling, and, of course, farting
Each person calls all these unpleasant hearing sounds disgusting or, at least, annoying. This is partly due to the misophony that we discussed above, but there are other reasons. First of all, these are some social factors. For example, residents of the UK find these sounds more annoying than people from South Africa, most likely due to differences in cultures. Older people are more critical of them, maybe because they did not hear them so often in public, or maybe because their libido came to naught - scientists have not yet reached an unambiguous conclusion.
Another explanation is that these sounds are associated with the secrets of the human body and excrement, which can be the result of pathology or disease, so people are unpleasant to hear them. In addition, the study found that women are more annoyed by these sounds than men. Perhaps this is because the woman is genetically programmed to care not only about herself, but also about the child. Although, of course, no one cancels the role of social factors.
Brownian noise
Let's take the last annoying sound hypothetically and listen to the Brownian noise, which few people know about. We hope that you are reading this article from the phone or while sitting in the toilet, just as a precaution.
This is a low sound, its frequency is 5-9 Hz, which is unattainable for perception by the human ear. But, if the sound is loud enough, then our body can feel the vibration. Care must be taken, because they say what exactly it makes people put on their pants (in the literal sense). Not very nice, is it? The story of this noise began in 1955 and is connected with the aircraft. It was an experimental aircraft with a turbine engine and an ultra-high-speed propeller, the rotation speed of which reached nine hundred revolutions per minute. Even at idle on the ground, a working propeller caused nearby people to feel nauseous, headaches and uncontrolled bowel movements. The project was closed, some crew members were seriously damaged by the shock wave. The aircraft was recognized as the loudest in history - the sound of running engines could be heard over 40 kilometers.
Nevertheless, experiments were carried out for a long time, but it was not possible to get this Brownian noise. Even NASA became interested in this phenomenon, they were worried that cosmonauts might need to change their spacesuit after take-off. But the myth of Brownian noise is still alive. In 2005, Legend Destroyers tried to recreate it, but nothing terrible happened. According to the subject, he just had the feeling that he was being hit in the chest, as if it were a drum. It may be that the reaction of people to the sound from the plane was not created artificially, and Brownian noise really exists. Just imagine, if someone can recreate this sound and somehow make it publicly available, what fun can any child do on Sunday service in the church?
Sounds are certainly an integral part of our lives. Even people who are hearing impaired can sense many of them. But they are not always pleasant to the human ear, and sometimes they can even adversely affect health. Today we tried to explain to you the nature of the perception of only some of them, in fact, there are many more.
