Why Do People Like Loud Sound? A Qualitative Study

Music Listening as Exploratory Behavior: From Dispositional Reactions to Epistemic Interactions with the Sonic World

Listening to music can span a continuum from passive consumption to active exploration, relying on processes of coping with the sounds as well as higher-level processes of sense-making. Revolving around the major questions of "what" and "how" to explore, this paper takes a naturalistic stance toward music listening, providing tools to objectively describe the underlying mechanisms of musical sense-making by weakening the distinction between music and non-music. Starting from a non-exclusionary conception of "coping" with the sounds, it stresses the exploratory approach of treating music as a sound environment to be discovered by an attentive listener. Exploratory listening, in this view, is an open-minded and active process, not dependent on simply recalling pre-existing knowledge or information that reduces cognitive processing efforts but having a high cognitive load due to the need for highly focused attention and perceptual readiness. Music, explored in this way, is valued for its complexity, surprisingness, novelty, incongruity, puzzlingness, and patterns, relying on processes of selection, differentiation, discrimination, and identification.

Hearing Health at School: analysis of knowledge, behaviors and attitudes of Southern-Brazilian children and adolescents on noise

PURPOSE

to analyze the knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes of students on noise.

METHODS

We used an observational method study, in 32 Schools from Itajaí/Brazil, with a convenience sample, comprising 1,835 students, 45.7% females and 54.3% males, mean age of 11.53 ± 0.8 years, was conducted. The Portuguese version of Dangerous Decibels® questionnaire was applied. For the data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics were used, significance level of 5%.

RESULTS

A large part of the sample part of the sample had harmful hearing habits; 62.6% reported knowledge on the subject, but only 25.4% answered the questions on the theme correctly; 58.9% reported that they did not know how to protect hearing if necessary. Regarding sex and age: males have more hazardous hearing habits (p < 0.001) and tinnitus complaint (p<0.001) and females have more knowledge (p < 0.001) and the intent to wear hearing protection (p<0.001), greater intention to wear hearing protection among younger students (10 and 11 years old) (p < 0.001), and the older ones (12 to 16 years old) get more exposed to noise (p < 0.001), and there are more tinnitus complaints (p < 0.05) among them.

CONCLUSION

A large part of the students in the study has hazardous noisy habits and scarce knowledge on the theme, with males and older subjects showing the worst attitudes and behaviors in face of the potential hearing risk caused by exposure to high noise levels.

Serum Prestin Level May Increase Following Music Exposure That Induces Temporary Threshold Shifts: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVES

To determine if blood prestin level changes after exposure to music at high sound pressure levels, and if this change is associated with temporary threshold shift (TTS) and/or changes in distortion product (DP) amplitude.

DESIGN

Participants were exposed to pop-rock music at 100 dBA for 15 min monaurally through headphones. Pure-tone audiometry, DP amplitude, and blood prestin level were measured before and after exposure.

RESULTS

Fourteen adults (9 women; age range: 20 to 54 years, median age = 31 [Interquartile ratio = 6.75]) with normal hearing were included in the study. Mean prestin level increased shortly after exposure to music, then returned to baseline within 1 week, although this trend was not observed in all participants. All participants presented TTS or a decrease in DP amplitude in at least one frequency after music exposure. There was a statistically significant average threshold elevation at 4 min postexposure. Statistically significant DP amplitude shifts were observed at 4 and 6 kHz, 2 min following exposure. Mean baseline serum prestin level (mean: 140.00 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval (CI): 125.92 to 154.07) progressively increased following music exposure, reaching a maximum at 2 hr (mean: 158.29 pg/mL, 95% CI: 130.42 to 186.66) and returned to preexposure level at 1 week (mean: 139.18 pg/mL, 95% CI: 114.69 to 163.68). However, after correction for multiple comparisons, mean prestin level showed no statistically significant increase from baseline at any timepoint. No correlation between maximum blood prestin level change and average TTS or distortion product otoacoustic emission amplitude shift was found. However, in an exploratory analysis, TTS at 6 kHz (the frequency at which maximum TTS occurred) decreased significantly as baseline blood prestin level increased.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that blood prestin level may change after exposure to music at high sound pressure levels, although statistical significance was not reached in this relatively small sample after correction. Baseline serum prestin level may also predict the degree of TTS. These findings thus suggest that the role of baseline serum prestin level as a proxy marker of cochlear susceptibility to intense music exposure should be further explored.

Personal Listening Device Use and Attitude to Noise in Relation to Depression and Anxiety among Medical Students

Background

High levels of environmental noise may lead to psychological symptoms. The present study has hypothesized that personal listening device (PLD) use and a negative attitude to noise are significantly related to anxiety and/or depression.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 431 six-grade students (35% male) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. All students completed the questionnaires related to socio-demographic data, noise/music exposure habits, behaviors related to PLD use, tinnitus, headaches, consumption of alcohol, coffee, energy drinks and cigarettes, YANS (Youth Attitude to Noise Scale), CES-D (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression), and GAD-7 (Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment - 7 item scale) questionnaires.

Results

There were 396 (91.9%) of investigated students who used PLD, with more frequent use among girls compared to boys (95.0% and 86.8%, respectively; p = 0.002). We found no significant relationship between the frequency of PLD use and depression and anxiety. However, continuous daily PLD use longer than 1 hour was significantly and positively related to depression (p = 0.006). Students with depression had a lower total YANS score compared to those without depression, indicating a more negative attitude toward noise (p = 0.042). Students with no difficulties to concentrate in noise and with a positive attitude to daily noises had about 37% lower chance to suffer from depression and anxiety, respectively.

Conclusions

PLD use is common among medical students and may be associated with their mental health. Longer than 1 hour of continuous daily use of PLD may be positively related to depression. We also found a significant relationship between difficulties concentrating in noisy environments and depression, and between negative attitudes to daily noises and anxiety.

Music Listening and Homeostatic Regulation: Surviving and Flourishing in a Sonic World

This paper argues for a biological conception of music listening as an evolutionary achievement that is related to a long history of cognitive and affective-emotional functions, which are grounded in basic homeostatic regulation. Starting from the three levels of description, the acoustic description of sounds, the neurological level of processing, and the psychological correlates of neural stimulation, it conceives of listeners as open systems that are in continuous interaction with the sonic world. By monitoring and altering their current state, they can try to stay within the limits of operating set points in the pursuit of a controlled state of dynamic equilibrium, which is fueled by interoceptive and exteroceptive sources of information. Listening, in this homeostatic view, can be adaptive and goal-directed with the aim of maintaining the internal physiology and directing behavior towards conditions that make it possible to thrive by seeking out stimuli that are valued as beneficial and worthy, or by attempting to avoid those that are annoying and harmful. This calls forth the mechanisms of pleasure and reward, the distinction between pleasure and enjoyment, the twin notions of valence and arousal, the affect-related consequences of music listening, the role of affective regulation and visceral reactions to the sounds, and the distinction between adaptive and maladaptive listening.

Ten seconds of my nights: Exploring methods to measure brightness, loudness and attendance and their associations with alcohol use from video clips

Introduction

Most evidence on associations between alcohol use behaviors and the characteristics of its social and physical context is based on self-reports from study participants and, thus, only account for their subjective impressions of the situation. This study explores the feasibility of obtaining alternative measures of loudness, brightness, and attendance (number of people) using 10-second video clips of real-life drinking occasions rated by human annotators and computer algorithms, and explores the associations of these measures with participants’ choice to drink alcohol or not.

Methods

Using a custom-built smartphone application, 215 16-25-year-olds documented characteristics of 2,380 weekend night drinking events using questionnaires and videos. Ratings of loudness, brightness, and attendance were obtained from three sources, namely in-situ participants’ ratings, video-based annotator ratings, and video-based computer algorithm ratings. Bivariate statistics explored differences in ratings across sources. Multilevel logistic regressions assessed the associations of contextual characteristics with alcohol use. Finally, model fit indices and cross-validation were used to assess the ability of each set of contextual measures to predict participants’ alcohol use.

Results

Raw ratings of brightness, loudness and attendance differed slightly across sources, but were all correlated (r = .21 to .82, all p < .001). Participants rated bars/pubs as being louder (Cohen’s d = 0.50 [95%-CI: 0.07–0.92]), and annotators rated private places as darker (d = 1.21 [95%-CI: 0.99–1.43]) when alcohol was consumed than when alcohol was not consumed. Multilevel logistic regressions showed that drinking in private places was more likely in louder (OR_participants = 1.74 [CI: 1.31–2.32]; OR_annotators = 3.22 [CI: 2.06–5.03]; OR_algorithm = 2.62 [CI: 1.83–3.76]), more attended (OR_participants = 1.10 [CI: 1.03–1.18]; OR_algorithm = 1.19 [CI: 1.07–1.32]) and darker (OR = 0.64 [CI: 0.44–0.94]) situations. In commercial venues, drinking was more likely in darker (OR_participants = 0.67 [CI: 0.47–0.94]; OR_annotators = 0.53 [CI: 0.33–0.85]; OR_algorithm = 0.58 [CI: 0.37–0.88]) and louder (OR_participants = 1.40 [CI: 1.02–1.92]; OR_algorithm = 2.45 [CI: 1.25–4.80]) places. Higher inference accuracies were found for the models based on the annotators’ ratings (80% to 84%) and the algorithms’ ratings (76% to 86%) than on the participants’ ratings (69% to 71%).

Conclusions

Several contextual characteristics are associated with increased odds of drinking in private and commercial settings, and might serve as a basis for the development of prevention measures. Regarding assessment of contextual characteristics, annotators and algorithms might serve as appropriate substitutes of participants’ in-situ impressions for correlational and regression analyses despite differences in raw ratings. Collecting contextual data by means of sensors or media files is recommended for future research.

Loud Music and Leisure Noise Is a Common Cause of Chronic Hearing Loss, Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

High sound levels capable of permanently damaging the ear are experienced not only in factories and war zones but in concert halls, nightclubs, sports stadiums, and many other leisure environments. This review summarizes evidence that loud music and other forms of "leisure noise" are common causes of noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis, even if audiometric thresholds initially remain within clinically normal limits. Given the huge global burden of preventable noise-induced hearing loss, noise limits should be adopted in a much broader range of settings, and education to promote hearing conservation should be a higher public health priority.

Associations between adolescents' earphone usage in noisy environments, hearing loss, and self-reported hearing problems in a nationally representative sample of South Korean middle and high school students

Few epidemiological studies have examined the relationship between earphone usage and hearing loss in adolescents. This study identified the prevalence of hearing loss in South Korean adolescents using representative national survey data and evaluated the relationship between earphone usage in a noisy environment and hearing loss. This study analyzed 532 subjects (12-19 years) who participated in a 2012 national survey and completed health and noise environment exposure questionnaires and pure tone audiometry (PTA) test. Hearing loss was defined as an average hearing threshold of 26 Decibel-A (dBA) or higher in PTA. The relationship between earphone usage and hearing loss was analyzed using a hierarchical logistic regression model. Adolescents who were exposed to high noise levels via headphones in a noisy environment had a hearing loss prevalence of 22.6% and adolescents who used earphones 80 minutes or more per day on average had the hearing loss prevalence of 22.3%. The results of the logistic regression analysis revealed that adolescents who used earphones in a noisy environment had a 4.5-fold higher risk of hearing loss and an 8.4 times higher risk of having a subjective hearing problem than those who did not use earphones (prevalence odds ratio (pOR) = 4.54, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35-15.24; pOR = 8.39, 95% CI: 1.12-62.83, respectively). Additionally, adolescents who used earphones more than 80 minutes per day in a noisy environment had a 4.7 times higher risk of hearing loss than those who used them less than 80 minutes per day (pOR = 4.68, 95% CI: 1.08-20.22). Longitudinal studies are needed to provide evidence of causality between earphone usage and hearing loss.

The hearing health of live-music sound engineers

Most studies of hearing loss prevention in the music industry focus on the risk of hearing injury to musicians. However, live-music sound engineers (LMSE) may also be at risk of hearing injury due to their work-related sound exposure. We studied 27 LMSE, all of whom underwent otologic examination, including audiometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, speech discrimination and uncomfortable loudness levels, and completed a questionnaire investigating their history of sound exposure and use of hearing protectors. Hearing thresholds were significantly poorer than normative data across several frequencies, and a substantial proportion reported constant tinnitus (30%) and reduced sound tolerance (41%). Use of hearing protection was relatively low, with many reporting interference with their job when using it. Our results suggest that LMSE are at risk of hearing injury due to their work-related sound exposure.

Music Listening as Coping Behavior: From Reactive Response to Sense-Making

Coping is a survival mechanism of living organisms. It is not merely reactive, but also involves making sense of the environment by rendering sensory information into percepts that have meaning in the context of an organism's cognitions. Music listening, on the other hand, is a complex task that embraces sensory, physiological, behavioral, and cognitive levels of processing. Being both a dispositional process that relies on our evolutionary toolkit for coping with the world and a more elaborated skill for sense-making, it goes beyond primitive action-reaction couplings by the introduction of higher-order intermediary variables between sensory input and effector reactions. Consideration of music-listening from the perspective of coping treats music as a sound environment and listening as a process that involves exploration of this environment as well as interactions with the sounds. Several issues are considered in this regard such as the conception of music as a possible stressor, the role of adaptive listening, the relation between coping and reward, the importance of self-regulation strategies in the selection of music, and the instrumental meaning of music in the sense that it can be used to modify the internal and external environment of the listener.

Applying the Hierarchy of Hazard Control to Regulation of Sound Levels in Entertainment Venues

Excessive sound levels at events where amplified music is a central element pose a risk to hearing. Whereas noise exposure in the workplace has been recognized as a hazard for over a century, the potential harm resulting from recreational sound exposure has only become apparent in recent years. In occupational settings where sound levels are high, employers are required to implement risk-mitigation strategies to reduce sound exposure and protect employees in accordance with the hierarchy of controls. In principle, this same risk management approach can be applied to entertainment venues. In this paper we discuss how the measures stipulated in various policies and regulations aimed at protecting the hearing of audience members at entertainment venues fit within the hierarchy of controls. We compare the relative likely effectiveness of each of the measures and outline how the particular characteristics of entertainment venues impact on the practical application of these measures.

Awareness, attitudes, and beliefs about music-induced hearing loss: Towards the development of a health communication strategy to promote safe listening

OBJECTIVE

Worldwide, 1.1 billion young people are at risk of developing hearing loss due to unsafe listening. The World Health Organization plans a global health campaign to promote behavior change. In an effort to develop effective evidence-based interventions, this study identifies modifiable factors that influence listening habits.

METHODS

Online survey among 1019 individuals aged 18-35. The questionnaire was based on theories of behavior change.

RESULTS

Individuals not contemplating change showed a lack of knowledge, tended not to feel particularly at risk, and did not see the benefits of preventive measures. Conversely, those considering a change perceived more barriers (e.g., lack of information on how to act,). Self-efficacy was shown to play an ambivalent role.

CONCLUSION

Four factors that can be influenced by a health communication intervention were identified: risk perception, perceived safe listening level due to a lack of symptoms, knowledge, and perceived benefits and barriers, in particular perceived loss of pleasure.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The first aspects can be influenced through health communication interventions. Influencing the perceived loss of pleasure additionally requires an analysis of competing pressures. To support and not exceedingly burden the individual, we further suggest to address environmental aspects (e.g., policies).

Young Adults' Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding "Music" and "Loud Music" Across Countries: Applications of Social Representations Theory

Exposure to loud music, especially by young people, has significantly increased in recent years as a result of (a) advancements in technology in terms of personal music players and smart mobile phones, and (b) streaming of music through these devices. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that some 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of developing hearing loss due to exposure to recreational noise such as music. It is suggested that knowledge and attitude of young adults toward music has bearing upon their music listening habits and thereby influences who is at risk of developing music induced hearing loss. Hence, researchers from various fields have tried to understand the knowledge and attitude of young adults regarding loud music. However, there is some criticism of attitude studies as there is little relation between expressed attitude and behavior. Some recent studies have explored the social representations of music and loud music using the Social Representations Theory (SRT). It has been suggested that social representation is more fundamental than attitude (or in other words social representation informs attitude), hence, it has a better relation to behavior. The current paper: (1) provides an overview of studies on knowledge and attitude of young adults toward loud music, (2) discusses the limitations of attitude theories and introduces SRT, and (3) provides a summary of social representation studies on “music” and “loud music” in young adults from different countries.

Music and Noise: Same or Different? What Our Body Tells Us

In this article, we consider music and noise in terms of vibrational and transferable energy as well as from the evolutionary significance of the hearing system of Homo sapiens. Music and sound impinge upon our body and our mind and we can react to both either positively or negatively. Much depends, in this regard, on the frequency spectrum and the level of the sound stimuli, which may sometimes make it possible to set music apart from noise. There are, however, two levels of description: the physical-acoustic description of the sound and the subjective-psychological reactions by the listeners. Starting from a vibrational approach to sound and music, we first investigate how sound may activate the sense of touch and the vestibular system of the inner ear besides the sense of hearing. We then touch upon distinct issues such as the relation between low-frequency sounds and annoyance, the harmful effect of loud sound and noise, the direct effects of overstimulation with sound, the indirect effects of unwanted sounds as related to auditory neurology, and the widespread phenomenon of liking loud sound and music, both from the point of view of behavioral and psychological aspects.

Musical Intensity Applied in the Sports and Exercise Domain: An Effective Strategy to Boost Performance?

In the sports and exercise domain, it has been suggested that musical intensity might boost performance. Previous research revealed that pumping up the volume of music might increase running speed, grip strength, and choice reaction time while simultaneously decreasing time to exhaustion and level of perceived exhaustion. However, evidence is still scarce, experimental designs and tested groups vary significantly, and contradicting evidence exists as well. Yet, listening to high-intensity music could be a risky business and exercisers employing such a strategy to improve performance are vulnerable to developing noise-induced hearing problems. Therefore, future research should inquire more profoundly into the inherent boosting qualities of musical intensity and juxtapose experimental results and auditory repercussions in order to uncover possible strategies to combine both in such a way that the exerciser’s health can be safeguarded at all times.

Time to Listen: Most Regular Patrons of Music Venues Prefer Lower Volumes

High sound levels are a feature of nightclubs and live music venues, and therefore pose a risk to patrons’ hearing. As a result, these venues are often a focus area for hearing health promotion, and particular emphasis is placed on motivating patrons to take steps to reduce their noise exposure. In the current study, we approached this issue from a different angle. We asked whether sound levels in music venues accurately reflect the preferences of regular patrons, and examined their attitudes and preferences toward sound levels and protective listening behaviors. The study examined results from 993 regular patrons of nightclubs and live music venues, collected as part of an Australian online hearing health survey. Participants were asked about their participation at the two target venues, experiences of hearing difficulties, and risk perceptions. They were also asked about their preferences in relation to typical venue sound levels and beliefs about other attendees’ preferences. Results showed that while participants generally rated their hearing as good, the majority had experienced hearing difficulties following sound exposure at music venues. The majority of regular patrons were dissatisfied with current sound levels, with around three-quarters of participants reporting preferences below the levels typically experienced at music venues. Participants were generally aware of the risk posed by high sound levels and those who regarded themselves to be at greater risk from attending music venues were more likely to prefer lower sound levels. These findings have important consequences for the development of hearing health initiatives within entertainment venues. Rather than motivating patrons to change their behavior, encouraging venues to meet their patrons’ needs and preferences may be a more successful strategy. Venue operators may find that this approach has a positive impact not only on the hearing health of patrons, but also on the economic health of their venue. Ultimately, reducing the hearing risk in music venues may best be achieved not by telling people what to do, but by listening to what they actually want.

The Evolution of Soundscape Appraisal Through Enactive Cognition

We propose a framework based on evolutionary principles and the theory of enactive cognition ("being by doing"), that addresses the foundation of key results and central questions of soundscape research. We hypothesize that the two main descriptors (measures of how people perceive the acoustic environment) of soundscape appraisal ('pleasantness' and 'eventfulness'), reflect evolutionarily old motivational and affective systems that promote survival through preferences for certain environments and avoidance of others. Survival is aimed at ending or avoiding existential threats and protecting viability in a deficient environment. On the other hand, flourishing occurs whenever survival is not an immediate concern and aims to improve the agent's viability and by co-creating ever better conditions for existence. As such, survival is experienced as unpleasant, and deals with immediate problems to be ended or avoided, while flourishing is enjoyable, and therefore to be aimed for and maintained. Therefore, the simplest, safety-relevant meaning attributable to soundscapes (audible safety) should be key to understanding soundscape appraisal. To strengthen this, we show that the auditory nervous system is intimately connected to the parts of our brains associated with arousal and emotions. Furthermore, our theory demonstrates that 'complexity' and 'affordance content' of the perceived environment are important underlying soundscape indicators (measures used to predict the value of a soundscape descriptor). Consideration of these indicators allows the same soundscape to be viewed from a second perspective; one driven more by meaning attribution characteristics than merely emotional appraisal. The synthesis of both perspectives of the same person-environment interaction thus consolidates the affective, informational, and even the activity related perspectives on soundscape appraisal. Furthermore, we hypothesize that our current habitats are not well matched to our, evolutionarily old, auditory warning systems, and that we consequently have difficulty establishing audible safety. This leads to more negative and aroused moods and emotions, with stress-related symptoms as a result.

Understanding Why People Enjoy Loud Sound

Sounds at levels that can injure the ear are regarded as enjoyable by many people. In many societies, a common form of this behavior is listening to loud music, either via personal audio systems or at music venues. Drawing on theory from the literature around loud sound and emotional responses to music, and combining it with concepts of physiological sound adaptation and classical conditioning, we developed a model of the process that may underlie people's enjoyment of loud sound, particularly loud music in nightclubs. The Conditioning, Adaptation, and Acculturation to Loud Music (CAALM) model proposes that the benefits associated with loud sound, alongside other desirable aspects of nightclubs, provide the unconditioned stimuli. Over time regular clubbers become conditioned to enjoy loud sound in itself. Exposure to loud sound also causes adaptation within the auditory system, so there is both a desire for, and tolerance of, loud sound during leisure time. This sets up an expectation of loud music as a cultural norm, and staff of leisure venues, who are themselves part of that culture, set music levels to meet customer expectations; and a cycle is perpetuated. This theory may be a useful consideration for health promotion and hearing conservation interventions.