How Listening to Silence Changes Our Brains

Thanks for posting this article, Jeanne. It reminded me of a book I read while on an artist residency in Finland - there's a quiet place! - in January. The residency was all about silence and the creative potential of a quiet, peaceful setting. While there, I read a number of books including one on sound, a fascinating look at sound and silence throughout time, nature, culture, and human development. It was written by Canada's R. Murray Schafer, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, published 1977. Yes, it's nearly 50 years old with much development on the sound front in those 50 years; however, it was a fascinating read. Some ideas that were presented:
•⁠ ⁠14th century alignment of church bells and mechanical clocks leading to a greater awareness of mortality given the silence of previous timekeeping methods like the sand clock or sundial
•⁠ ⁠the noise of war, the noise of religion
•⁠ ⁠“Romanticism begins at twilight and ends with electricity”
•⁠ ⁠the presence of rhythmic travel like horse/wagon on cobblestones influencing the development of the musical pattern the Alberti bass. Think Mozart piano left hand fcac, fcac or 5131, 5131, and the impact of the train on jazz music
Another section was about train whistles and how unique Canada’s train whistles are. As many modern whistles became reduced to one tone and American railroads preferred this, Canadian railroads adopted a three tone, specifically Eb minor root position triad (!) in an attempt to mimic the original steam whistle sound. “…unifying sound of the nation.” Reminded me of how I specifically tuned the strings on a door harp I have, to the sounds of a train. And of how my favourite key is Eb minor.

It's interesting to consider how too much sound can make one feel claustrophobic and closed in whereas spending sustained time in silence can be expansive and reveal connections to the universe.

How fascinating Anne, thank you for sharing this :)

Decades ago I had the privilege of being present, along with maybe 100 others standing on the shore of Hart Lake north of Toronto, at a performance of Schafer's opera Princess of the Stars. The performance took place off-shore in canoes, with the singing interspersed with the dawn calls of birds and the rustle of leaves in the forest behind us. It was totally different than any other musical performance - indoor or open air, classical, rock, jazz, or folk -that I have ever experienced. The openness of music unconstrained by walls, unembellished by amplification, embedded in nature, and suffused with near (but not complete) silence, made it quite magical. Hadn't thought of it for years. Thanks for bringing it to mind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_of_the_Stars

This was a fascinating article! One thing that especially stood out to me was the Duke Medical School study. So much emphasis has been placed on the therapeutic properties of music that I've never given thought to how silence may tie into it all. The fact that silence showed the highest increase of neurons (in mice) is a fantastic case for finding some "quiet" every day as frequently as possible.

I also never would have guessed the connection between noise and stress. In the modern day, so many aspects of our world cause increased stress, of course it makes sense that auditory processing is a part of it, but I don't think it would have occurred to me without having the idea presented to me from an outside source. How do we then escape it? For someone who lives in rural areas it may be easier, but what about the billions of people in cities? Is there a way in the world of cars, trains, and other machines to make the world a quieter place?

This is also interesting to me here in the US with the rapid growth of Data Centers, which are known to cause constant noise...