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My Body, My Soul and the Sounds That I Hear

You are always surrounded my sounds: cars, birds, music, people talking. These are all forms of sounds, in one way or another and they all affect us. Some sounds we embrace, other we despise, in any case we have an acoustical reaction.

1) It affects our body

It is only normal for the body to respond to acoustical movements.  Sounds come to affect hormone secretions, breathing and heart rate. Moreover, they can even stimulate the brain waves and to demonstrate this aspect, think about the sound of the ocean waves.

No one goes ballistic at the hearing of waves. Why? Because the frequency they transmit to our brains is of 12 cycles per minute. This is the exact frequency our breathing has when we sleep. Therefore, there is no wonder that at the sound of ocean waves, we instantly become calmer and we even associate it with a stress-free sensation and with the idea of holiday.

 

2) It has a great psychological influence

Music is the greatest and the most powerful form of sound in existence. Think about the last time you went to a rock concert and the electrifying feeling it gave you. Now think about the last classical music concert you attended and the strong soothing feeling it gave you.

It’s the chemistry of music, of different sounds that harmonically compose a song that moves us. However, instruments aren’t the only things that can affect our emotional being, as natural sounds have the same effect upon us. Bird songs are usually understood as reassuring, and even bird chirping was always considered a sign for safety and joy.

 

3) Sounds has interesting effects upon the cognitive part

Our brain has a small amount of bandwidth when it comes to processing auditory input. That means that you cannot understand everything 2 people are talking at the same time. You can concentrate on one conversation or the other.

Want to know how supplementary sounds can disturb your concentration? It seems that in open plan offices, people can lose productivity up to 66% due to office noise. If you’re working in such an environment, use some headphones and listen to some relaxing music or nature sounds and you will notice the difference. Plus, you won’t go home stressed because of the working environment you have to face every day.

 

4) Your behavior can change when the sounds change

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We have already talked about how music can influence your emotional part. In the same way, sounds and music can also bring changes to your behavior. And this is sometimes used as a powerful tool in marketing.

There are shops that pay great attention to the music they emit, in order to prologue the duration of their clients’ stay. However, other shops (and they aren’t few) are ignorant to these factors and are risking of having major losses, as bad music can make clients just run off.

It’s like listening to a jackhammer:As soon as it gets uncomfortable, than you just want to leave from the space you hear the sound. In this way, your body is alarming you to get away, or you’re going to damage your hearing.

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