“Sounds like birdsong and flowing water may alleviate stress, help lower blood pressure and lead to feelings of tranquility.”
The following written content by Brian Handwerk
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Miles away from the nearest road in Colorado’s Wheeler Geologic Area, the problem of noise pollution hit home for conservation biologist Rachel Buxton. ‘It was a gorgeous, remote valley, and then a plane flew over and you could hear the noise for ages as it reverberated in the valley,” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘wow, this is a really pervasive issue.’”
Buxton teamed up with researchers from the National Park Service and Colorado State University to author a 2019 study documenting manmade noise in U.S. national parks. The study was part of a growing pile of research exploring noise’s negative impacts on animals and humans alike. Noise makes it hard for animals to find food and mates and can lead humans to suffer stress, high blood pressure and other ailments.
But as she studied the negative consequences of noise, Buxton also began considering the opposite scenario: could the natural sounds with which she’d always been enamored, have positive consequences? “If I’m hearing lots of pleasant natural sounds, or many birds singing, is that better than hearing nothing?” she wondered.
To find out, Buxton and colleagues from six universities and the National Park Service did a statistical analysis of some three dozen past studies exploring the measurable health benefits of natural sound. Though the goals and methods of the analyzed studies varied widely, some common themes emerged—the various groups exposed to natural sound saw a 184 percent improvement in overall health outcomes. Buxton’s research, published in March in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, presents evidence that pleasant natural sounds can help lower blood pressure, improve cognitive performance and even reduce pain. “Typical natural sounds that we consider pleasant are having health benefits for us,” says Buxton, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. “I think that’s a really powerful message,”
To explore the possible health benefits of natural sound, the team analyzed more than a decade’s worth of studies, conducted around the world, with a wide range of methods. Some researchers had measured outcomes linked to human health like blood pressure, heart rate and the stress hormone cortisol. Other scientists had studied reactions to sound that may impact health for good or ill—including feelings of annoyance or tranquility, awareness, relaxation and cognitive function. Read more from Smithsonian.
