The Sound Of Rain: Calm Melody For Our Brain
The sound of the rain has an unmistakable, rhythmic and quiet tinkle that resonates in the glass of our windows and on the sidewalks of the streets. It is the melody of heaven when it is angry, of nature when it renews itself, and it is, above all, the evocative frequency that soothes our brain with its indescribable effect, the same effect that facilitates our rest or awakens our imagination…
Henry Beston, a famous naturalist and writer, said that few sounds are as elemental on our planet as the noise of waves dragging over the surface of the oceans and rain falling on our cities. In a way, everything aquatic, everything that has to do with water awakens our senses and fascination.
It is clear, however, that not all the population has the characteristics of a true pluviophile . Not everyone feels comfortable or safe when the sky is cloudy, the light turns gray, and everything is blurry in the presence of a storm. However, the data is there. Just do some research on this topic on YouTube or Spotify to find that when it comes to relaxing, we love listening to the sound of rain.
The fact that this type of cadence, of auditory rhythm, produces this effect on our brain and mind is due to a series of very specific factors. Let’s meet them.
The sound of rain, the sound of calm
The sound of ocean waves hitting rocks, a river flowing, rain falling… Many people experience a pleasant sensation when they hear these types of watery sounds. Now, more than pleasure or calm, what a neurologist would say is that what we perceive is a feeling of “non-threatening”.
It is possible that many readers will be surprised to learn this information. The natural phenomena associated with water are not exactly without danger for us, we know that.
The sea causes disasters with its force, just like rain. However, it is about focusing exclusively on the sounds that evoke these elements: they are rhythmic, follow a repetitive interval and are located at the decibel threshold where our brain enters a calm state.
In turn, any auditory stimulus that exceeds 70 decibels and that appears suddenly or shows some irregularity will be interpreted by our brain structures as a threat. The same was completed by Pennsylvania State University in a study carried out in 2012. People are biologically prepared to react to unexpected sounds, screams and loud auditory stimuli.
This explains why the irregular sound of traffic, people raising their voices, or the whole range of noises that inhabit the jungle of our cities cause stress and psychological exhaustion. Our brain needs environmental harmony and this acoustic balance – uniform in its frequencies – generates calm. Only then does it gratify us with endorphins, only then does it provide us with the ideal well-being to relax or even to enter a placid state of introspection.
White noise or acoustic camouflage
There are many people who listen to the sound of rain to fall asleep. If our insomnia is occasional and mainly associated with stress, it is highly recommended to make use of this type of resource. Dr. Orpheus Buxton, professor at Harvard and specialist in sleep disorders, explains in his work that a good part of his patients benefit from what he calls “acoustic camouflage”.
This term designates all those sounds of uniform frequencies that “erase” the feeling of threat present in many people’s brains. When we lead a life with a lot of pressure, stress and anxiety, there are certain areas of the brain that are always “alert” and defensive.
What we get with the sound of rain or with white noise (a sound signal that contains all frequencies and with the same power) is to have a kind of camouflage. It’s offering the brain something that generates a sense of control, a repetitive acoustic pattern to convince it that there are no outside threats, that everything is calm.
In a world collapsing to the extreme by unexpected stimuli, our brain needs moments where everything is predictable. Moments when nothing interrupts us, where life is limited to flow, to be contained in a perfect moment of harmony and balance. The sound of rain manages to do this, nature and its phenomena put us in contact with our roots and essences, take us to that particular corner where we limit ourselves to being and being.
Finally, we cannot overlook another sensational effect of rain. In addition to its sound, there is that unmistakable aroma of wet earth, the geosmine that remains suspended in the environment and that captivates us with its fragrance, bringing us memories and transmitting pleasant sensations.
