Re: recordings of screaming children?

["Harriet B. Jacobster, AuD" <hjacobster@xxxxxxx>]

Here's a thought...is it possible that the screaming children help to release endorphins?  We all know that if we are in pain and we scream, that releases certain neurotransmitters, most notably the endorphins, that help to squelch the pain.  Perhaps listening to screaming children has the same effect for this gentleman.

HBJ

Gossmann, Joachim wrote:

Hi -

I'm not a cognitive scientist, but I have been wondering about a possibly related topic for a while.
Could it be that listening to certain "painful" sounds can divert attention for other "pain" that a person might be experiencing to the not *actually* painful experience of sound?
For example, when I listen to some of the electroacoustic works of Xenakis, I often have the impression that the music served him to cover up his war-traumata with sounds that cover up the emotional space in which pain exists.
(Please not that I am not criticising in any way the compositional quality of these incredibly intricate and ingenious pieces - I am only talking about my subjective access to the "expressions" the music employs.
The way this music is experienced has also changed a lot of course since we are exposed to electronic sounds now on a daily basis.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_F50EJt0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGZyn4UiB6
(Criminal data compression... be warned)

It is said that Xenakis always played his tape music at *very high volumes*, sometimes painful to the audience - and it does not fail to have a strangely "cathartic" effect on me, a little like covering up a tinnitus with a correspondingly designed synthetic sound in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.

Best,

Joachim



________________________________________
From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kevin Austin [kevin.austin@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:30 AM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: recordings of screaming children?

Begin forwarded message:

  

(from the phonography list)

    

To: phonography@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "felixbadanimal" <felixbadanimal@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:03:03 -0000
Subject: [phonography] recordings of screaming children?

Hello all,
sorry for the extremely random nature of this post... my Dad is a GP and just sent me this email:

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I have a charming patient with chronic pain in his neck arms and shoulders with no releif from neurosurgery who has found that he gets extra-ordinary releif from the sound of screaming children. In the absence of progress with the pain clinics and the neurosurgeon he is keen to explore the "sound therapy" avenue further.

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I know it is a bit strange and random but as an arthritis patient myself, I can understand the craziness of being in constant pain and the need for relief... and perhaps even the outlet that the sound of full-on screaming might provide? I am intrigued that sound may play a part in easing this man's pain, but I have no idea where I may find screaming recordings, and it's not the easiest thing to either explain or set up since it poses a few ethical problems, and maybe not everyone would be sympathetic to the idea.

I thought I would consult you open-minded folks to see if you had any views or ideas about where I could find such recordings, or how I could set something like this up, and whether or not any of you have been approached with similar requests...

Any leads on finding recordings of screaming children greatly appreciated...

Cheers, F
      

I would be interested in hearing from the AUDITORY community as to why this form of therapy [would] work[s].


Kevin