What noise helps to concentrate and relax, and also prevents hearing loss in severe accidents

No one likes noise, and for good reason. Noise pollution from highways alone is detrimental to the health of every third European. And according to WHO, every year, residents of large cities spend a total of $ 750 billion on the treatment of diseases associated with hearing loss due to noise of one or another origin. But there are noises that not only do not harm health, but help to preserve it , as well as concentrate and relax.

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What is this useful noise

By the word “noise” we most often mean unpleasant screams, the roar of motors, the roar of a bulldozer in the street or the “screaming” audio speakers in a cafe - a kind of cacophony of scattered sounds that are composed of sporadic waves with a random distribution of frequencies and amplitudes. Such noise is annoying, and its long-term effect on the body not only interferes with concentration, but can also lead to hearing loss .

But there is a separate category of noise called color. Unlike street noises and screams, they are a stationary signal. Examples are white noise, which has equal intensity at all frequencies, and pink noise — its spectral density decreases with increasing frequency. Their main feature is that they successfully mask other sounds and do not annoy the listener. For this reason, they are used to increase concentration, relaxation and other tasks. Next - we dwell in more detail on examples and analyze them.

Pink noise for concentration

People who work in open spaces often complain about the lack of privacy. Yes, and work, constantly listening to fragments of other people's conversations, is very difficult. White or pink noise can hide the problem, which hides distracting sounds, but by itself practically does not interfere with a person.

According to an experiment by the American Acoustic Society (ASA), whose participants were asked to perform the same task in different acoustic conditions, the percentage of errors when listening to pink noise was only slightly higher than that when working in complete silence. Some companies use this perception feature and install special sound systems in the office that emit a quiet but successfully masking the conversation of people around them with pink noise. Especially often they are used in contact centers, where dozens of people are simultaneously talking on the phone.

Pink noise for sleep

From time immemorial, the human ear has been the most important and most sensitive hazard warning mechanism. We constantly listen to the environment and respond to sharp and loud sounds. When such an irritant masks useful noise - we become calmer.

Therefore, pink noise is advised to listen in order to sleep better.

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Last year, Bose introduced a new model of headphones with which you can’t listen to music. They are designed solely to play noise and wear while sleeping. The memory of the device stores ten soothing tracks, the frequency of which is selected in such a way as to block traffic noise and snoring. Residents of Reddit say that the gadget does a good job of its task, although at first it causes discomfort.

Pink noise as a therapy

Noise damages the hair cells (called the auditory receptors) in our ear. As a result, we gradually lose the ability to hear certain frequencies. But a very loud and sharp sound can lead to complete hearing loss. Sometimes hearing loss is the result of a serious car accident. During a collision, very high sound pressure is generated in the middle of the frequency spectrum. This is enough to damage the unprepared eardrum.

To avoid such an outcome of events, you can first “strain your ears”, cause them the so-called acoustic reflex when the muscle contracts between the auricle and the eardrum. Pink noise helps to do this. This approach is used by Mercedes in some of its cars. When the car understands that a collision is imminent, the speaker system begins to lose noise to protect the hearing of the driver and passengers.

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Also, pink noise can help people who suffer from continuous tinnitus - this is almost 12% of the world's population. In mild cases of tinnitus, this discomfort is small, but if the disease is developed, tinnitus can be a hindrance to normal life and work.

For patients with this disorder, doctors recommend periodically listening to pink noise (even special CDs are released for this) to relax. In some cases, such therapy can teach the brain to “filter” tinnitus and stop the disease.

Other pink noise applications

Engineers manufacturing and testing acoustic equipment work with pink noise. For example, microphone designers use it to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio. First, with the help of the device, a monophonic sound with known characteristics is recorded (for example, a sinusoid with a frequency of one kilohertz), and then they try to record a pink noise that “fills” the room. Ideally, this noise should not fall into the resulting recording.

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Pink noise is used by sound designers and sound engineers. For example, with its help, various effects are created, the simplest is the sound of the wind. On the network you can even find special generators . Pink noise is also used to calibrate stage monitors during performances by musicians. In particular, using special generators, a linear frequency response is built in the working range of the speaker.

Pink noise is used as a kind of formalized ideal, as a model for adjusting the perception of sound by the sound engineer himself. That is, it serves as a kind of remedy for “washing the ears”, when the brain adapts to what it hears from prolonged work, and it becomes difficult to make objective judgments.