Low-frequency sound gives you the shivers

General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

Lusting after that low low bass? Well the following news article might be of interest:
Soundless music is shown to produce weird sensations. PATRICIA REANEY reports.
MANCHESTER - Mysteriously snuffed out candles, weird sensations and shivers down the spine may not be due to the presence of ghosts in haunted houses but to very low-frequency sound that is inaudible to humans.
British scientists have shown in a controlled experiment that the extreme bass sound known as infrasound produces a range of bizarre effects in people, including anxiety, extreme sorrow and chills - supporting popular suggestions of a link between infrasound and strange sensations.
"Normally you can't hear it," Dr Richard Lord, an acoustic scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in England who worked on the project, said yesterday.
Lord and. his colleagues, who produces) infrasound with a 7m pipe and tested its impact on 750 people at a concert, said that infrasound was also generated by natural phenomena.
"Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost - our findings support these ideas," said Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in southern England.
In the first controlled experiment of infrasound, Dr Lord and Prof. Wiseman played four contemporary pieces of live music, including some laced with infrasound, at a London concert hall and asked the audience to describe their reactions to the music.
The audience did not know which pieces included infrasound but 22 per cent reported more unusual experiences when it was present in the music. Their unusual experiences included feeling uneasy or sorrowful, getting chills . down the spine or nervous feelings of revulsion or fear.
"These results suggest that low frequency sound can cause people to have unusual experiences even though they cannot consciously detect infrasound," said Prof. Wiseman, who presented his findings to the British Association science conference.
Infrasound is also produced by storms, seasonal winds and weather patterns and some types of earthquakes. Animals such as elephants also use infrasbund to communicate over long distances or as weapons to repel foes.
Sarah Angliss, a composer and engineer who worked on the project, said: "So much has been said about infrasound - it's been associated with just about everything from beam weapons to bad driving. It's wonderful to be able to examine the evidence".
John

Interesting times

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Parts Connexion

Topic - Low-frequency sound gives you the shivers - John C. - Aussie 15:06:53 09/12/03 (8)

This reminds me of a WW2... - gino 11:43:25 09/15/03 (0)

I recall reading that sounds circa 7hz cause animals to react as if there is an earthquake......nt - feet's too big 15:34:48 09/13/03 (0)

Infrasound used in physical therapy too... - tonemaniac 04:41:35 09/13/03 (0)

Necrophony - Chris Sommovigo 20:01:10 09/12/03 (1)

You forgot to turn Googles ghost filter off (nt) - mollecon 20:43:28 09/12/03 (0)

Re: Low-frequency sound gives you the shivers - Charles Chance 18:03:03 09/12/03 (1)

Funny, my Wife does that too first thing in the morning. (nt) - pretzel_logic 20:07:39 09/12/03 (0)

Makes sense... - David Aiken 15:42:41 09/12/03 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.