Death, large animals, broken internet--
these are all very scary to the average person.
But could another one of our fears be silence?
Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews.
Sometimes I'm sitting in my apartment trying to write,
and, before too long, I'll find myself
putting on a YouTube video, or the TV, in the background.
And it's not as if I'm actually listening to the TV.
I'm just hearing it.
It's not loud.
It's just softly droning on in the background.
I guess, to me, there's something
mildly uncomfortable about sitting
too long in total quiet.
A six-year study done on 580 undergrads
found that, hey, I'm not crazy.
This is a widespread phenomenon.
And although they haven't confirmed it yet,
scientists suspect that this discomfort in silence
might be something that's learned.
Perhaps it's a product of the media bombardment
that we're faced with in day-to-day life.
Perhaps it's the airplanes and helicopters,
and buses and cars, air conditioners,
heating systems, computers, refrigerators,
distant conversations.
At any given moment there are 30 to 60 decibels
of sound humming away in the background of life.
Just stop and listen.
You'll hear it, even if you didn't even
realize it was there.
We're so used to this unquiet, perhaps
we're even starting to prefer it.
But according to science and things,
this preference might not be so good.
The International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental
Health reports that this ongoing low level background
noise could have negative effects on long term cognitive
learning and unconscious physiological processes.
The ability to memorize and recall information
is disrupted by background noise.
A study at the US Army Engineer Research Center
found that the ideal sound level for test taking
is 28 decibels, about the same as a whisper.
The theory goes background noise, even when it's
low level, subconsciously averts energy and brain
power to process all that junk.
But total silence ain't that great either.
In Minneapolis, you'll find the world's quietest room,
an anechoic chamber in which the noise
levels are negative 9 decimals.
I don't even know how that's possible.
But apparently it is, and it drives
people insane, like, literally crazy.
They start hallucinating and craving human flesh.
OK, maybe not the human flesh part.
But definitely hallucinations.
You're sitting there alone with just your thoughts
and the sound of your heartbeat.
And your brain just can't take it.
So it starts making [BLEEP] up.
The longest someone has lasted in this profound silence
is 45 minutes.
The brain, man, it's so hard to satisfy.
Like, do you want noise or not?
Perhaps the solution to our sound woes
is somewhere in between.
In the comments below, I want to know,
do you guys put on background noise when you're doing stuff?
Or do you prefer the quiet?
Thanks for watching DNews.
guys.
We'll be back again tomorrow.