Total Silence Drives You Crazy

Silence is golden, but can also drive you crazy! Chances are you've never experienced absolute quiet, but those who have report hallucinations and feelings of insanity. Laci Green tells us why and how this can happen.

Read More:

"The Trouble With Background Noise"

"Everyday background noise, whether it is a neighbor's television or passing aircraft, can have a disruptive effect on people's cognitive learning and unconscious physiological processes, says a study in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health."

"The Quietest Place on Earth Will Drive You Insane Within 45 Minutes"

"There's a small room in Minnesota that blocks out 99% of all external sound."

"Study shows background noise affects test scores"

"A new study presented at the 162nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America shows that students testing scores are negatively affected by background noise, but not the noise you would expect."

"Bring the noise: has technology made us scared of silence?"

"Drawing on six years (2007-12) of observations from 580 undergraduate students, it can be reasonably argued that their need for noise and their struggle with silence is a learnt behaviour."

"Impacts of classroom acoustics on elementary student achievement"

"Noise masking occurs when one sound covers up another sound, making it more difficult or even impossible for you to hear and understand the masked sound."

DNews is a show about the science of everyday life. We post two new videos every day of the week.

Watch More

Subscribe

DNews Twitter

Anthony Carboni Twitter:

Laci Green Twitter

Trace Dominguez Twitter

DNews Facebook

DNews Google+

DNews Website

[RPSchonherr]

I can't sleep without a fan going to cover the noise of my breathing and head moving on the pillow and such.

[mstr]

Deaf people: "Haha...amateurs!"

[TheKindGamers]

Big problem with this video: It seems to be implying that ambient noise is a product of modern society, which is... completely incorrect. If you've ever been away from civilization (and I mean *far* away), you'd hear a LOT of sounds of nature. Wind, leaves, animals, insects, water...

[CRBASF]

The guy from Veritasium stayed in that room for one hour, and he left because of boredom and he didn't hallucinate at all.

[Rickfernello]

I actually hate background noises!
I'd totally give a try on that room.

[GenMinion]

>Sit in total silence for over 45 minutes
Challenge Accepted

[TNTMADNESS]

BULLSHIT! 45 Minutes, Veritasium stayed in one for over an hour

[rovhallet]

negative dB is possible because 0dB is based on the human threshold of hearing. 0dB is where we can't hear something anymore, but it isn't absolute quiet.
/Sound Technician.

[Chidds]

Derek from Veritasium totally debunked this myth. He lasted an hour and said he found it relaxing and could have done much longer.

[pixel]

her voice sounds like she is crying or something. anyway I'm fully comfortable in silence. I grew up in remote area, where is quiet all the time.

[Pooua]

I grew up in a very old-fashion, conservative environment. My family was deeply religious, and one thing I was taught as a pre-teen (back in the '70s) was that the reason so many people put on rock music all the time is they are trying to drown out their feelings of guilt. Apparently, most people would be severely depressed if they had to face who they are, so they escape their depressive thoughts through loud noise they call music.

Now, I've always been a quiet person, even as a baby. I've never liked loud noises. What's more, even ordinary sounds are stressful to me. Frankly, every time the narrator in this video spoke, I felt pain in my ears and my body tensed. That's what my normal day is like. As a boy, I discovered a large closet in my school that was filled with books, deadening the sound. It was bliss! Ever since then, I have wanted to have an anechoic chamber in my home.

The hallucinations people experience in this chamber probably is feedback from people's brains, analogous to feeling sensations of hot or cold long after removing oneself from hot or cold environments, or feeling like the ground is moving after getting off a ship, or feeling a tingling sensation in one's hands long after mowing the lawn.

[bromixsr]

Ironic that when she talks....all I want is total silence.

[DragcoDavid]

I so wanna try that room... I have good hearing and I tend to hear noise ALL THE TIME... silence is so rare that I long for it... plus I am an introvert and good at self-entertaining... wonder how long I'd last

[NicoNicoMikkun]

I have a feeling that I wouldn't have any issue being in that room for 45+ minutes as long as I could text on my phone with friends.. I'd be so incredibly bored if I had to sit there doing nothing that of COURSE I'd go nuts. There's literally nothing to focus on otherwise.

[JoachimVampire]

i REALLY want to try that silent room...

[loveunasa]

What about deaf people? They seem fine..

[maximumrisk]

I usually need a TV Show running in the Background in order to fall asleep since I am otherwise to distracted by the odd Noises all around my House. :D

There is also this annoying moment when you notice a clock ticking and suddenly you cant tune it out anymore and the ticking just appears to get louder.

[BioniclesaurKingt]

As of some time recently, Derek from Veritasium lasted a full hour in one of the not-most silent anec-whatever rooms and said that he actually felt quite calm and relaxed by the silence and could have gone on for 5 hours. Ha, take that!

[ShawnBean]

I prefer music playing, 24-7.  I actually cannot fall asleep without music playing, and will wake very quickly if the music stops.

And, for those confused about "-9dB, " the decibel scale is a logarithmic scale on which the value 0dB corresponds to sound of about 1mW in power.  1mW is not a lot of power; most people would have trouble being sure if they actually heard a sound of 0dB even if that sound was generated fairly close (i.e., a couple inches) to their ear.  But it is not true silence; it does move air and can easily be heard by animals with more sensitive hearing than humans.  -10dB would be 1/10th as loud as 0dB, or about equivalent to 0.1mW of power, and -20dB would be 1/100th as loud as 0dB, or about equivalent to 0.01mW of power.  So a sound measured at -9dB would be a little bit louder than 1/10th as loud as the quietest sound most people with good hearing could hear unassisted.*  Your own heartbeat is probably louder.

* I'm omitting a lot of technical details in this description in order to keep things accessible to folks without engineering or physics degrees, so please don't call me out on the differences between dBm and dBu, or between dBA, dBB, and dBC, or how many millibar of pressure a 0dB sound produces in air versus in water, or whatnot.  If you can explain such things in an interesting manner, then, please, by all means, include your comments below as additional education.  But you can assume that I, personally, know as much about the decibel scale in both acoustics and electronics as a metrologist** who's calibrated all kinds of esoteric instruments over the course of his career would know.

**No, that's "metrologist" -- an engineer who specializes in the science of measurement.  All I can tell you about the weather is that it's almost never what you want it to be.

[gorgiansoldier]

It is not about siting 45 minutes in silence. It is about siting 45 Minutes Doing noting. literally nothing.  A person like me can last there probably somewhat long because i have a imagination. I spend quite a lot of time imagining when i am in that kinda of situation.