Black Noises: What They Are And How They Affect Us
Various devices that we live with, many of them frequently used in our daily routine, such as cars or household appliances, among others, emit infrasound that has been called “black noise.”
Black noise is a term that refers to those vibrations of infrasonic waves, with frequency levels below 20 hertz (Hz), being barely perceptible to the human ear. For this reason, people are not able to hear these noises, although we can perceive them and their energy is absorbed by our body, potentially causing damage to our health.
In the following lines we will see what black noises are and we will also talk about the repercussions that prolonged exposure to this type of vibrations has on both physical and psychological health.
The concept “black noise” refers to those vibrations of infrasonic waves, with frequency levels below 20 hertz (Hz), being barely perceptible to the human ear. For this reason, people are not able to hear these noises, although we can perceive them and their energy is absorbed by our body, which can cause damage to our health, both physically and mentally, and black noises can causing dilation and contraction in matter, including the different tissues of the human body.
There are many sounds that we are exposed to daily that we cannot avoid, such as traffic noise, construction noise, the wide variety of sounds we hear on the street, the conversations of the people we pass, etc. But there are some black noises, with lower acoustic frequencies and that are more detrimental to our health, these being those generated by air conditioning units, refrigerators, traffic vibrations, vibration of bridges when passing vehicles, the vibration of machinery. all kinds, etc.
Since black sounds emit low frequency levels, it is difficult for the ear to perceive them and, if they are perceived, it is even more difficult for them to be heard clearly. Therefore, What is perceived is a painful sensation, feeling like a kind of pressureso that they are noticed as something unpleasant and this uncomfortable sensation is produced by the effect of the ultrasonic waves that black noise emits on the cells of the human body.
All people, more and less, have absorbed those infrasound waves emitted by the black noises to which we are exposed daily, and surely most of us will have suffered dizziness, the feeling of being dull or we have had blockages. our ears when we are traveling by car, on a train or on a plane.
Health consequences of exposure to black noise
Roberto Alonso and David Baeza, researchers at the Higher Polytechnic School of the CEU San Pablo University, have published the article “Effects of infrasound on health: Proposals to improve habitability conditions” in the International Journal of Occupational safety and Ergonomics , where the results they have obtained in their research on black noise and its health effects, implying that the vibrations they emit have harmful effects, so It is important to take into account the control of black noise when building new homes.
These researchers have explained how these harmful effects occur due to prolonged exposure to black noise in our daily lives, starting because the frequency of infrasonic vibrations that cause these noises is closely linked to the functionality of our organs, so that This infrasound produced by black noise evokes a biological resonance in our organs, such as the heart or lungs, and also in the central nervous system (CNS), leading to the movement and distortion of cells.
In other words, the harmful effect of black noise is that the frequencies they emit interfere with the frequencies of the internal organs we have, such as the heart, lungs and brain. Furthermore, our brain can process those infrasonic waves emitted by black noise as pathogens, so that it will try to defend itself against them, so a stress response could be activated or an inflammatory reaction to it and would also send a signal for the adrenal glands to release catecholamines in response to that stress.
When a person is exposed to high intensities of these infrasonic waves, they can suffer various complications, both physically and psychologically, such as fatigue, disorientation, panic, anxiety, optical illusions, cardiac alterations, nausea, vomiting. intestinal spasms and even a loss of consciousness.
The main problem we encounter when we are exposed to high intensities of those infrasonic waves that black noise emits for a long time is that on many occasions we do not realize that we are exposed to them because our ears are not capable of perceiving it. . In other words, We are not able to establish a direct relationship between the harmful effects on our health that we are suffering due to these waves with the origin..
For all these reasons, in modern buildings, these researchers propose that the levels of exposure to these black noises be taken into account, so that when building, care must be taken where the air conditioning equipment is going to be placed, placement of the rooms as far as possible from the different emission points of these infrasound waves and possible noises, etc.
Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on exposure to black noise
Since the beginning of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus at the beginning of 2020, due to confinement and the different waves in which the number of infections has increased considerably, among other repercussions, one of them has been the increase in the hours we spend at home and also the percentage of workers who have gone from working outside to teleworking from home. This has caused our ears to become accustomed to perceiving fewer noises; we have become more sensitive and are also more exposed to black noise.
This prolonged exposure when confined at home and/or teleworking has caused us to be continually exposed to all types of black noise emitted by the refrigerator, ventilation equipment, the vibration of the heating boiler or washing machine, among others. Adding this to a greater sensitivity that has occurred due to being less exposed to the outside environment, so that even the slightest noise that we hear at home could become unbearable for us.
Thus, Trying to work from home or study while we are exposed to all kinds of black noise has become a very common situation. in the daily routine of many people as a result of the pandemic, so this can generate a lot of frustration for many people. So many of them are beginning to choose to seek peace and rest in every way, including less exposure to black noise, moving to places where they are surrounded by nature on their days off from work and vacations, producing endless benefits. to health.
We can also be exposed to a multitude of noises if we live in a house that is near a road heavily traveled by vehicles or a train track, so in addition to hearing the sound emitted by cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and /or trains, we will be exposed to black noise caused by these infrasounds that can impact the walls of our homes and therefore affect our health, highlighting the serious negative repercussions on our central nervous system (SNS) and with it the conditions to our mental health.
