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Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

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Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#51

Post by jck »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #3

I am Deaf myself and using my hearing aids all of my life. One thing I discovered that silence is the best productivity focus for me. During my job, I always keep my hearing aids off. This helps with my ADHD as I am easily distracted when there is a sound involved, sometime causes me to ‘hyperfocus’ in my “world” than doing my job. And interesting that I found that keeping my hearing aids off makes the time around me…

I also have ADHD, but not hearing problems and suffer some of the problems you describe. However, silence doesn't seem to help my productivity and sometimes makes me anxious too.

What helps me is predictable sounds - like music I've listened to many times before.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#52

Post by motohagiography »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #30
motohagiography wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very odd question, but if as a person experiencing difficulty hearing who can get partial hearing from a hearing aid, can you experience binaural beats, which are essentially non-sound neurological artifacts of the brain processing and filtering slightly different tones? Meta analysis of them here, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-018-1066-8 , full paper is on sci-hub. Almost everything about binaural…

I am not sure if I can hear binaural beats. I tried a few of them in the past and always found them… mm what that word… like “metal rubbing on other metal” sounds which I don’t like and felt randomized. They don’t work for me. I am not sure if my hearing aids have something to do with it. Hearing aids does modify the sounds from the microphone and amplifies & output various range to get closer to “normal hearing leve…

Super interesting, thank you. Indeed, if the hearing aid EQ'd the input to bring out things in the range of speech, the effect in most of the artistic binaural beats tracks could be suppressed, as the effect is caused by a very specific difference between tones sent to each ear.

The beats are the artifact of directing two frequencies with a difference of only a few Hz, one per ear, and the "beat," phenomenon is a pulse we mentally feel as the result of the brain allegedly straining either to distinguish or consolidate the two tones from each ear as the same or separate. The tension between the tones does manifest as a kind of stimulation or subtle irritation, and higher frequencies could plausibly create an anxiety effect, like metal on metal you described.

Max Richter's "Sleep" is a recent artistic implementation of these, where different ones are used as a backing track throughout. I'm hacking around with reproducing them on a synth rig, but even then, the stuff written about them is mostly using pure sine waves, so even if you get interesting sound effects from other types of waves (saw, triangle, pulse, etc), there's not much in the way of empirical control.

Rare opportunity for the question to be on topic so had to ask, thank you!

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#53

Post by winrid »

uptownfunk wrote: post #18
munificent wrote: post #16

I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…

Is this why I have my best thoughts in the shower?

Is that why you're so clean?

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#54

Post by rootusrootus »

uptownfunk wrote: post #18
munificent wrote: post #16

I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…

Is this why I have my best thoughts in the shower?

Personally, I think so. I get the same effect if I'm in the hot tub with the jets running. White noise blocks distractions pretty well, so my brain can get lost in thought.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#56

Post by CoastalCoder »

bduerst wrote: post #33
CoastalCoder wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have ADHD, and when it works well, the hyper-focus effect is similar to what you describe with your hearing aids turned off. But for me, the outside world's time seems to go faster , not slower . It's like the more I'm focusing on my task at hand, the less I notice the passage of time around me. I'm curious why our hyper-focus experiences differ in that way.

The phenomenon you're describing psychological flow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) Where time perception starts to skip as the brain becomes hyper focused on a task. One of the things I've noticed (having ADD) is that it's easy to enter into flow and accomplish much, but can be difficult to master what you enter flow with.

> One of the things I've noticed (having ADD) is that it's easy to enter into flow and accomplish much, but can be difficult to master what you enter flow with.

Adderall is like that for me. It works wonders, but heaven forbid I'm focusing on the wrong thing as it kicks in.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#57

Post by alberth »

Isn't it as simple as: to concentrate well - you need to remove distractions. Too much noise is distracting but, having zero noise is also distracting because inevitable something will cause noise and your attention will be drawn to it.

Hence why white noise is so effective because it's the middle of these two things.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#58

Post by Jensson »

adventured wrote: post #46
munificent wrote: post #16

I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…

> We instinctively feel safest when we hear the chatter and hub-bub of relaxed tribemates puttering around nearby. We know we're not alone, that there are others will also be alerted if something happens, and that they also feel safe. I can confirm that is false. If it were an actual instinct, I would possess it as would essentially all people. I do not possess that instinct what-so-ever. I do not gain an increased f…

> The tribe and I are not friends

Then they aren't "chatter and hub-bub of relaxed tribemates", rather to you it is "the whispers and noises of your enemies". Of course that wont get you relaxed. The effect comes from hearing people you are comfortable around talking, if you have a distrustful personality then likely you aren't comfortable around many people but the effect is still there, just that you lack another link.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#59

Post by MobiusHorizons »

jck wrote: post #51
Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #3

I am Deaf myself and using my hearing aids all of my life. One thing I discovered that silence is the best productivity focus for me. During my job, I always keep my hearing aids off. This helps with my ADHD as I am easily distracted when there is a sound involved, sometime causes me to ‘hyperfocus’ in my “world” than doing my job. And interesting that I found that keeping my hearing aids off makes the time around me…

I also have ADHD, but not hearing problems and suffer some of the problems you describe. However, silence doesn't seem to help my productivity and sometimes makes me anxious too. What helps me is predictable sounds - like music I've listened to many times before.

I have certain albums that I have listened to straight through many times now while getting work done. They no longer distract me basically at all, so I can work very effectively.

I have also found that certain not types of older TV shows hit the white noise level where they get me moving, but don't pull me out of my thoughts too often. This is mostly for things where the goal is just to keep moving on something, not where the goal is to think deeply.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#60

Post by Bedon292 »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #3

I am Deaf myself and using my hearing aids all of my life. One thing I discovered that silence is the best productivity focus for me. During my job, I always keep my hearing aids off. This helps with my ADHD as I am easily distracted when there is a sound involved, sometime causes me to ‘hyperfocus’ in my “world” than doing my job. And interesting that I found that keeping my hearing aids off makes the time around me…

That is quite an interesting difference from me. I have to have sound or else there is absolutely no chance for me to focus. Primarily music with a lot of bass. Podcasts are bad though as that requires paying attention. Perhaps the music serves to block out other possible distractions. If you make me sit around in silence, I will be all over the place and unable to focus. It feels like I require some level of sensory input, and once that is maxed out I can actually get things done.
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