Rosetta Stone

September 11, 2020

Acoustics + Mental Health

Talking Points • Research Brief • Collection Database


Acoustics – Mental Health Talking Points

Summary

Mental health and acoustics share the quality of invisibility, and therefore both go largely understudied. Acoustics are often conflated with “noise”, “sound”, or “music” in studies of mental health, but they should all be considered as elements of “soundscapes”, ecosystems engaging the auditory sense. When this perspective is held, it is easier to conceptualize acoustics’ role in an environment of healing.

Keywords

Noise, emotion, health hospital, sound perception, stress reduction, environment

Improved Mental Health in Patients

  • Sound decreases agitation in patients by:
  • Sound can elicit positive emotions, enhancing social connection, increasing the perception of individual choice, reducing stress (Iyendo 2016).
  • Sounds and music can be helpful in treating depression, reaching autistic children, as well as calming and relaxing agitated psychiatric patients (Iyendo 2016).
  • Shared Soundscapes
  • Hospital sounds balanced by white noise, music, or nature sounds that are intelligible, controllable, and make sense in the overall ecosystem of the hospital can yield greater reductions in stress, blood pressure, and post-operative trauma compared to silence alone through the social connection they create (Brown 2014).
  • Music Assisted Stress Reduction
  • Music is effective for the management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia patients (Iyendo 2016).

Worsened Mental Health in Patients

  • Disrupted sleep can contribute to acute schizophrenic episodes (Iyendo 2016).
  • Patients with more disturbed sleep are likely to suffer more severe symptoms and be less medication compliant (Iyendo 2016).
  • Insomnia is often present during both the acute and chronic phases of schizophrenia and can lead to schizophrenic episodes (Iyendo 2016).

Conflicted Mental Health

  • Individuals with a past trauma history have greater risk of subsequent anxiety disorder symptoms, e.g. an increased catecholamine (fight-or-flight) response to psychological stress and increased acoustic startle reactivity (Maguen 2009).
  • Each part of the work environment should function at its highest capacity to ensure efficiency, but also protects against the traumatic effects of critical incidents and negative life event (Maguen 2009).

Key References

Acoustics References