Subject: Re: recordings of screaming children? From: "Gossmann, Joachim" <jgossmann@xxxxxxxx> Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:57:00 -0700 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>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@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Kevin Austin [kevin.austin@xxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:30 AM To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx Subject: Fwd: recordings of screaming children? Begin forwarded message: > (from the phonography list) > >> To: phonography@xxxxxxxx >> From: "felixbadanimal" <felixbadanimal@xxxxxxxx> >> 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: >> >> ----------- >> >> 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. >> >> ----------- >> >> 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