 may generate the opposite feelings of sadness.
3. Emotional Contagion
When someone smiles or laughs, it’s difficult to not start smiling and laughing yourself. Research carried out in the 1990s discovered that the brain may contain what are known as “mirror neurons” that are active both when you are performing a task AND when you are observing someone else carry out the task. When we hear someone talking while crying, for example, it can be difficult to not also experience the accompanying feelings of sadness.
4. Visual Imagery
Let’s say you love listening to CDs containing exclusively the sounds of nature. Why do you enjoy it? Presumably because it evokes a positive emotional experience, and, taking that even further, it most likely evokes some powerful visual images of the natural environment in which the sounds are heard. Case in point, try listening to the sounds of waves crashing and NOT visualizing yourself relaxing at the beach.
5. Episodic Memory
Sounds can spark emotionally potent memories, both good and bad. The sounds of rain can stir up memories of a relaxing day spent at home, while the sound of thunder may induce memories affiliated with combat experience, as seen in post-traumatic stress disorder.
6. Music Expectancy
Music has been depicted as the universal language, which makes sense the more you consider it. Music is, after all, simply a random grouping of sounds, and is pleasant only because the brain imposes order to the sounds and interprets the order in a certain way. It is, in fact, your expectations about the rhythm and melody of the music that produce an emotional response.
Sound, Emotion, and Hearing Loss
Irrespective of your particular reactions to different sounds, what is certain is that your emotions are directly involved. With hearing loss, you not only lose the capability to hear certain sounds, you also lose the emotional impact associated with the sounds you can either no longer hear or can no longer hear well.
With hearing loss, for instance, nature walks become less enjoyable when you can no longer hear the faint sounds of flowing water; music loses its emotional impact when you can’t differentiate specific instruments; and you place yourself at increased risk when you can’t hear fire alarms or other alerts to danger.
The truth is that hearing is more vital to our lives—and to our emotional lives—than we probably realize. It also means that treating your hearing loss will most likely have a greater impact than you realize, too.
What are some of your favorite sounds? What emotions do they stir up?
Are there any specific sounds or songs that make you feel happy, angry, annoyed, sad, or excited? Let us know in a comment.