The health benefits of natural sounds

There is evidence that exposure to natural sounds has a positive impact on our well-being.

The sweet melody of birds, the flow of water in a river, the whistling of the spring wind... all of these induce a feeling of relaxation, a scene in which stress and discomfort seem to disappear.

From always the human being has found in nature an environment of calm and tranquility, being its sounds a very important element that contributes to enter us in a state of deep relaxation.

The benefits of natural sounds for health, besides being part of the popular culture, have been approached under a more scientific perspective, and in this article we are going to talk about them.In this article we are going to talk about a recent investigation that has revealed a little light on this question.

The benefits of natural sounds for health and wellness

People are very varied when it comes to musical tastes. There are those of us who like indie rock, others who are more into classical music and there are those who enjoy trap.

There are different tastes and, of course, this also applies to musical genres. However, within so much sound diversity there is an acoustic repertoire in which we all seem to coincide and that is the sounds that relax us.

If we ask several people what sound relaxes them, it is quite likely that most of them will tell us the same thing: the singing of birds, the sound of rain or the whistling of the wind and other natural sounds..... On the other hand, if we were to ask them what stresses them, they would probably tell us not so pleasant sounds such as, for example, the thunderous noise of a steamroller or cars honking on the highway. Why is it that natural sounds relax us and anthropogenic sounds stress us?

The sounds of nature and the human being

Throughout history, humans have attributed a relaxing component to the sounds of nature.. The melodies of birds in the countryside or the waves on the beach are auditory stimuli that we almost naturally attribute to relaxation and well-being, and very often we resort to them to keep our minds calm and even concentrate. Proof of this are the countless YouTube videos with ambient music composed from sounds such as rain, waves or birdsong.

The scientific approach to this issue is nothing new and, in fact, there have been several studies that have sought to find the relationship and the possible benefits of natural sounds for health. If hundreds of people resort to natural sounds to feel better, it will be because they work in one way or another, but it had to be demonstrated and a logical explanation behind it had to be sought, something that a recent article has dared to do.

The article in question is that of Rachel T. Buxton's group entitled A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks (published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which, in summary, has found how natural acoustic environments are indeed beneficial to health, both physical and mental..

According to their study, hearing sounds such as the flowing of water in a river, a waterfall or rain, as well as listening to animal sounds such as birdsong have a positive impact on our health. Among the many benefits of natural sounds, it has been found to reduce pain and stress, improve mood and even increase cognitive performance.

Rachel Buxton, from the Department of Biology at Carleton University in Canada, suggests why natural sounds benefit human health. From her explanation in the article and in some interviews that have been made to her, it can be extracted that the human being does not stop being what he is, an animal, and that no matter how much we have been moving away from the forests to live in the urban jungle, we are still connected to nature..

Natural sounds give us a sense of place, connect us to nature and give us clues as to what to expect from the place we are in. There is growing evidence that natural sounds are a fundamental aspect of good health and well-being because we are dependent on nature. If we stop hearing it, we start to worry and feel bad.

Study methodology

In their research, Buxton and colleagues analyzed and contrasted data from 36 studies, 18 of which they compared in an attempt to discern whether natural sounds do indeed improve our well-being. One of the conclusions drawn by the group was that, of all the natural sounds studied, the ones that seemed to be most effective in improving mood and concentration were those of the water type (e.g., listening to a waterfall). (e.g., hearing a river).

To assess what changes natural sounds induce, the researchers in the various studies consulted used different tests to measure their impact. Thus, physiological responses such as heart rate, Blood Pressure and stress hormone levels were measured to see if the subject was more relaxed when hearing a natural sound. More subjective measures were also used, such as perceived pain as an indicator of well-being.

After conducting the meta-analysis, Buxton's group examined the distribution of natural sounds relative to human-generated sound at 221 locations in 68 parks in the U.S. They found that only 11.3% of those sites were very rich in natural sounds and virtually free of anthropogenic noiseWhile the rest of the parks, especially those located near urban centers, had a greater amount of human-caused noise, they were also acoustic environments with natural sounds.

While it is preferable to be immersed in an environment with only natural sounds, the fact that it is not "clean" and isolated does not mean that there are no benefits or that it stresses us, but rather the opposite. Natural sounds were found to help reduce the negative impact of noises such as car horns or drills.

In fact, they found that listening to noise combined with natural sounds had better health outcomes than listening to noise alone. That is, even living in an urban environment with noise pollution, if you are lucky enough to live near a park or enjoy the sweet singing of birds is quite likely to have better mental health than those who do not enjoy these natural sounds..

Why is it beneficial?

It is not yet known exactly why natural sounds generate a positive reaction but, taking an evolutionary perspective, one can try to make sense of it. In fact, Buxton herself has her own explanation, stating that the acoustic environment can serve as an indicator of how safe the environment itself isThe idea is that how noisy an environment is gives us clues as to whether we are in danger or not.

That is, if an acoustic environment has many pleasant natural sounds, such as birdsong and the gentle flow of water in the river, our brain interprets this as meaning that we are in a place where there are no threats and it is safe to stay there.. If we stay in that place nothing will happen to us. It is a place that allows mental recovery because we are not on the edge.

On the contrary, an environment where there is a lot of noise and violence is perceived as a dangerous place, with threats. Naturally, our organism will start to show stress and anxiety in anticipation that it is in a place where something bad can happen to us and in order to keep our integrity intact, it starts to go into survival mode, preparing to engage in fight or flight behavior.

This last explanation would be the one that would help us to understand why the noise of a drilling machine, the exhaust pipe of a car or the angry argument of two pedestrians does not relax us.. These are dangerous and aggressive objects or situations, stimuli from which it is better to stay away, but living in a big city it is difficult to stay away from them of your own free will.

We must protect our natural environments

Taking into account all that has been explained, it is important to have natural spaces in big cities or to take the opportunity to visit the countryside and the beach from time to time, going on excursions to the mountains, practicing ornithology or lying by a river. Natural environments should be protected and encouraged as, in addition to their multiple environmental benefits, they also have benefits for human health and can act as a protective factor against stress-related diseases.

So now we know. If we are lucky enough to live near a forest, a river, the beach or any natural environment now we have no excuse not to go, since our health may very well be at stake. And, if by bad luck, we are one of those who are trapped in the mundane noise of the big cities, we should not despair, since platforms like Youtube or Spotify offer us multiple recordings with natural sounds. Of course it is not the same as enjoying them in real life, but it is not a bad option to add them to our "playlist" and try to keep our mind at peace.

Bibliographical references:

• Buxton, R. T., Pearson, A. L., Allou, C., Fristrup, K., & Wittemyer, G. (2021). A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(14), e2013097118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013097118