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"In fact, listening to that one song -- "Weightless" -- resulted in a striking 65 percent reduction in participants' overall anxiety, and a 35 percent reduction in their usual physiological resting rates."

"Ears are a peculiarly individual piece of anatomy. Those little fleshy seashells, whether they stick out or hang low, can be instantly recognizable in family portraits. And they aren't just for show. Researchers have discovered that filling in an external part of the ear with a small piece of silicone drastically changes people's ability to tell whether a sound came from above or below. But given time, the scientists show in a paper published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience, the brain adjusts to the new shape, regaining the ability to pinpoint sounds with almost the same accuracy as before."

"Sound is capable of producing powerful reactions in the listener - whether it's a sudden cold sweat caused by a snake's warning hiss, or the uncontrollable grin as a favourite song from our youth comes on the radio. Scholars have been fascinated by the relationship between sound and emotional states since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks (whose wild Dionysian parties could be seen as the equivalent of a modern-day rave!), and modern neuroscience has led to some fascinating advances in our understanding of why our ears and emotions have such a strong bond."

"A recent study revealed the neurological mechanisms behind our processing and reactions to unpleasant sounds. As always, the science behind this proves to be fascinating, and occasionally surreal"

"Joe Banks is a sound artist, author and researcher, originally specialising in radio phenomena and electromagnetic noise. For over twenty years Joe has been performing, releasing albums and exhibiting under the guise of Disinformation. This Disinformation brand name allows for a critique of corporate identities and modern communication, and uses a sonic palette sourced from errant radio waves, natural earth signals, and interference from the sun and from the National Grid, etc. In 2012, Joe published "Rorschach Audio - Art and Illusion for Sound" on Strange Attractor press, a book that explored the subject of EVP (ghost voice) research in contemporary sound art practice. Joe's work currently focusses on language and evolutionary neuroscience. Joe lives in London, 40 metres from the spot where physicist Leo Szilard conceived the theory of the thermonuclear chain reaction."

"Most people report vivid visual dreams during REM sleep, with scenery that seems to structure the narrative of the dream. However, the extent to which we experience auditory content in dreams is relatively unstudied, or underreported."

"Our brains "time-stamp" the order of incoming sounds, allowing us to correctly process the words that we hear, shows a new study by a team of psychology and linguistics researchers. Its findings, which appear in the journal Nature Communications, offer new insights into the intricacies of neurological function. "

"Kyoka, the innovative producer and artist (Raster-Noton), has electrodes attached to her head with good reason. In collaboration with neurologists, she's exploring the power of sound in mood and thought. She talks to us on the eve of a premiere at Berlin's Signals Festival."

"When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What's going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians' brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout. "

"Philadelphia's Franklin Institute will soon unveil a new exhibit called Your Brain: www.newsworks.org/index.php/thepul…ur-of-your-brain. The Pulse's Zack Seward got a sneak peek from chief bioscientist Jayatri Das. The exhibit features about 80 interactive installations exploring how your brain works. And this one ... will blow your mind."

"The ear has 20,000-30,000 hair cells, the nerve endings responsible for carrying the electrical impulses through the auditory nerve to the brain. These delicate receptors bend or flatten as sounds enter the ear, typically springing back to normal in a few hours, or overnight. But over time, loud sounds can cause more permanent damage as hair cells lose their resilience. Frequent and intense exposure to noise will cause these receptors to flatten down, stiffen, and eventually break. The damage can interfere with the ability to determine the location of a sound, cause extreme sensitivity and pain, and make it impossible to discern language with background noise. One in 20 Americans, or 48 million people, report some degree of hearing impairment. RELATED STORY What My Hearing Aid Taught Me About the Future of Wearables "

"Why do birds sing? Could we call what they sing and how they sing music? Of all nonhuman animals, birds teach us to check anthropocentrism in music, or, as David Rothenberg puts it in Why Birds Sing (2005), birds check "the conceit that humanity is needed to find beauty in the natural world." But how do they learn songs? Do they invent and compose them or "parrot" what they hear? Join us for a discussion between animal behavioral psychologist Professor Ofer Tchernichovski (Hunter College) and distinguished professor of philosophy and music, composer and clarinetist, Professor David Rothenberg (NJIT). Visit our site for more event information: "

"Arup and BLOXAS Architects collaborated on a soundscape installation to demonstrate what our everyday environment might sound like to a dementia sufferer."

"Imagine yourself at a concert hall looking at a symphonic orchestra on stage. Have you ever noticed that high-pitched strings sit left of low-pitched strings? Going from left to right, one usually sees violins, violas, cellos and double basses. That is, one moves from high pitches on the left to low pitches on the right. Why? The orchestra's arrangement is not a cultural oddity, like driving on the right side of the road. Rather, it is due to our own biological makeup."

"Neuroscientists have found that there are audiovisual mirror neurons in the monkey premotor cortex that discharge when the animal performs, sees, or hears a specific action. Scientists of human motion have shown that auditory stimuli are important in the performance of difficult tasks and can, for example, elicit anticipatory postural adjustments in athletes."

"Sound plays an influential part in how we view the world. It gives us social cues and evokes certain emotions, such as a dog barking might instill fear or a baby laughing can cause happiness. "

""Sound design is the main contributing factor to the mood and atmosphere of any film," Charlie Battin wrote in a 2015 piece for the BFI Film Academy. "The visuals are what the viewer tends to mostly focus on and the sound subconsciously alters how the visuals are perceived.""

"A growing body of scientific evidence now shows that what people taste when evaluating a wine, and how much they enjoy the experience, can be influenced by the music that happens to be playing at the same time. "

"Rather than perceiving the world in real time, we're actually experiencing a memory of that perception. That is, our unconscious minds filter and process the world under the hood, and often make split-second decisions. When we become aware of those perceptions and decisions-that is, once they've risen to the level of consciousness-we're actually experiencing "memories of those unconscious decisions and actions," the authors explained. "

A Study Investigating the Relaxation Effects of the Music Track Weightless by Marconi Union in consultation with Lyz Cooper