Keeping Sound Around Us
When our hearing system develops an extreme sensitivity to sound, it appears to listen harder for sound, and when sound is received, it seems louder than it actually is. A condition called hyperacusis results when our ears strain to hard to hear sound that unexpected or loud sounds actually feel painful to the listener. All sound is measured in comparison to baseline sound around us at the time.
One example is that when you start your automobile’s engine for a trip, sometimes the radio will blare out loudly. This results from adjusting the volume while driving, so the radio must be louder to be audible above the sound of the care’s engine, conversation in the car, and surrounding traffic noises. When in a quiet driveway, the sound is far too loud for comfort, in relation to the quiet surroundings.
In a noisy restaurant or night club, are you likely to notice if someone softly whistles a tune nearby? What if you awakened in a totally silent room to hear someone whistling the same tune on the sidewalk outside your bedroom window? It would seem quite loud and intrusive.
Individuals who suffer with anxiety from ringing in the ears-tinnitus-often feel that silence is golden They crave situations where they might hear no sound at all. And silence is the worst possible thing for their condition. Likewise, people with a decreased tolerance for loud sound crave silence. Once again, this is the worst possible remedy for their condition. Their auditory mechanism will become more and more sensitive to loud sounds unless it is exposed to gradually increasing safe levels of sound. These normal levels of sound literally desensitize the system to louder sounds.
Silence puts the autonomic nervous system on high alert. This primitive “fight or flight” system evolved during a time when silence often signaled impending danger-such as the sudden silence of jungle birds and small animals whenever a predator approached in the night.
Thousands of years ago, a person alone could not expect to last very long. Man learned to associate with others in order to have any chance at enduring the harsh elements, wild beasts, or hostile tribes. Groups of humans generate noise as they function, so we became accustomed to having base levels of sound around us at all times while we felt safe.
Because we interpret sound levels by contrasting them with other sounds in the same immediate vicinity, silence makes any sound that’s present seem louder that it otherwise might. When we wish to drown out unwanted sounds, we often play soft music, or use electronic devices to generate artificial nature sounds.
Most of us have learned to sleep in a relatively silent room, believing this will provide a restful environment. In truth, silence puts our nervous systems on edge, and prevents adequate rest and relaxation. We are far better off to insist on a comfortable level of sound where we sleep, so that external sounds to not generate a fear response in our bodies.
Visit What Is ringing in the ears to discover the many origins of and remedies for ringing in the ears and hyperacusis