Lost quiet: re-capturing the restorative qualities of silence. From the article:

Spending time in silence – through meditation, prayer or going solo in the wilderness – has been integral to spiritual and religious practices for millennia: a path to self-discipline, knowledge and self-actualisation and a way to get closer to the god or gods you choose to worship. “The fact that it arose as a central feature, across different continents and eras, speaks to its importance,” says Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist and campaigner for the preservation of quiet places.

But in today’s noisy world, silence is often seen as an emptiness to be filled….

“Ever since the Industrial Revolution, noise has been synonymous with productivity and progress,” says Hempton. “In all the clamour, we have forgotten the value of quiet.”…

The notion of silence as a presence, rather than an absence, isn’t just airy-fairy. Our brains perceive it that way. A 2023 study from Johns Hopkins University found that the brain processes silence in the same way as it processes sounds – as an “event”. Silence is not just inferred from a lack of auditory input, but actually perceived. As Ian Phillips, professor of philosophy and brain science and co-author of the study, puts it: “We really do hear silence.”

There is also evidence that attending to silence can promote neurogenesis – the creation of new brain cells – in the hippocampus. Researchers placed mice in an anechoic chamber (a soundproof space) and exposed them to various auditory stimuli, including total silence, for two hours a day. All sound scenarios, ranging from a Mozart piano concerto to the cries of baby mice, stimulated the proliferation of precursor cells in the hippocampus. This is the first stage of neurogenesis. However, after a week, these new cells had become functioning neurons only in the mice that received the silent treatment. This was a surprise to the researchers, but they theorised that because complete silence is so rarely experienced in mouse world, it prompted a level of attention that “might stimulate neurogenesis as preparation for future cognitive challenges”….

Natural soundscapes are beneficial to the human brain – in part, at least – because unlike construction-site noise, planes and the attention-grabbing notifications on our phones, they form part of our auditory heritage. “Our brains evolved over aeons hearing the sounds of nature and often, for long stretches, nothing else at all,” says Richard Cytowic, professor of neurology at George Washington University and author of Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age: Coping with Digital Distraction and Sensory Overload.“Silence is an essential nutrient. It is necessary for us to think.”…

What does he advise? “Switch off the TV. Go for a walk. Leave your phone at home. Look up at the trees, at the sky.”

For other posts on silence, see here.