It has long been known that there are strong connections among sound, music, emotion, and memory, and that our personal experiences and preferences determine the type and intensity of emotional response we have to diverse sounds.
As an example, research has revealed these widespread associations between certain sounds and emotions:
- The sound of a thunderstorm evokes a feeling of either relaxation or anxiety, depending on the person
- Wind chimes commonly evoke a restless feeling
- Rain evokes a feeling of relaxation
- Fireworks evoke a feeling of nostalgia and pleasant memories
- The vibrations of a cell phone are often identified as irritating
Other sounds have a more universal identity. UCLA researchers have discovered that the sound of laughter is globally identified as a positive sound signifying enjoyment, while other sounds are globally associated with fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise.
So why are we susceptible to specific emotional reactions in the presence of certain sounds? And why does the response tend to differ between people?
While the answer is still effectively a mystery, recent research by Sweden’s Lund University offers some fascinating insights into how sound and sound environments can affect humans on personal, emotional, and psychological levels.
Here are six psychological mechanisms through which sound may stir up emotions:
1. Brain-Stem Reflex
You’re sitting quietly in your office when suddenly you hear a loud, abrupt crash. What’s your reaction? If you’re like most, you become emotionally aroused and compelled to investigate. This kind of reaction is subconscious and hard-wired into your brain to warn you to potentially critical or hazardous sounds.
2. Evaluative Conditioning
People frequently associate sounds with selected emotions based on the context in which the sound was heard. For example, hearing a song previously played on your wedding day may provoke feelings of joy, while the same song first listened to by someone during a bad breakup may bring about the opposing feelings of sadness.
3. Emotional Contagion
When someone smiles or starts laughing, it’s hard to not start smiling and laughing yourself. Research conducted in the 1990s found that the brain may contain what are labeled as “mirror neurons” that are activated both when you are carrying out a task AND when you are observing someone else carry out the task. When we hear someone communicating while crying, for example, it can be difficult to not also experience the corresponding feelings of sadness.
4. Visual Imagery
Let’s say you like listening to CDs containing only the sounds of nature. Why do you like it? Presumably because it evokes a positive emotional experience, and, taking that even further, it most likely evokes some strong visual images of the natural surroundings in which the sounds are heard. For example, try listening to the sounds of waves crashing and NOT visualizing yourself lounging at the beach.
5. Episodic Memory
Sounds can activate emotionally potent memories, both good and bad. The sounds of rain can evoke memories of a pleasurable day spent at home, while the sound of thunder may induce memories affiliated with combat experience, as seen in post-traumatic stress disorder.
6. Music Expectancy
Music has been defined as the universal language, which makes sense the more you consider it. Music is, after all, merely a random grouping of sounds, and is pleasant only because the brain imposes order to the sounds and interprets the order in a certain way. It is, in fact, your expectations about the rhythm and melody of the music that induce an emotional response.
Sound, Emotion, and Hearing Loss
Regardless of your particular reactions to different sounds, what is certain is that your emotions are directly involved. With hearing loss, you not only lose the capacity to hear certain sounds, you also lose the emotional force tied to the sounds you can either no longer hear or can no longer hear properly.
With hearing loss, for instance, nature walks become less rewarding when you can no longer hear the faint sounds of running water; music loses its emotional impact when you can’t distinguish specific instruments; and you place yourself at greater risk when you can’t hear fire alarms or other alerts to danger.
The truth is that hearing is more vital to our lives—and to our emotional lives—than we most likely realize. It also indicates that treating your hearing loss will most likely have a greater impact than you realize, too.
What are some of your favorite sounds? What emotions do they evoke?
Are there any specific sounds or songs that make you feel happy, angry, annoyed, sad, or excited? Let us know in a comment.
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