Honking horns. Screeching coffee grinders. The gut-shaking bass of music on a passing car’s speakers. The modern industrial world is a landscape of assaulting noises.
Recent research indicates that we are not only living in unusually loud environments, but also regularly raising our own voices — which can be either harmful or helpful, depending on the circumstances.
A new study from the Association for Psychological Science found that climbing the career ladder has an effect on your voice and its decibel level. “Our findings suggest that whether it’s parents attempting to assert authority over unruly children, haggling between a car salesman and customer, or negotiations between heads of states, the sound of the voices involved may profoundly determine the outcome of those interactions,” lead researcher Sei Jin Ko, of San Diego State University, said in a statement.
Listeners use subtle variations in vocal cues to decide who is in charge.
People project their voices to command attention, and a change in tone affects how people respond. A second experiment in the study found that listeners unaware of the first experiment were able to determine which speakers were important or had greater status.
“These findings suggest that listeners are quite perceptive to these subtle variations in vocal cues, and they use these cues to decide who is in charge,” researcher Adam Galinsky said.
Some researchers also attribute loud talking to something a bit less complicated. We regularly listen to personal devices that cause a loss of hearing, which makes some of us talk louder. It’s not always a power grab … sometimes we just do it out of necessity.
“The onset of noise-induced hearing loss is insidious,” said Prof. Sandra Levey of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at Lehman College. She and her research partner, Dr. Brian Fligor of Harvard Medical School, conducted a recent study titled “Portable Music Player Users: Cultural Differences and Potential Dangers,” published in the journal Noise & Hearing. ”An individual is unaware that a hearing loss is present and developing, so they turn the TV up louder, they talk louder, or they accuse people of mumbling.”
Levey and Fligor’s study examined the volume level of portable listening devices used by people on a college campus and on a busy corner of New York’s Union Square. Ordinary conversation, Levey said, is measured around 60 decibels. Their study, however, found that people were using their personal devices to listen to music as high as 93 decibels, a dangerous level.
The kind of hearing loss these devices create is a slow, silent debilitating problem, which can cause anxiety, leading many to talk even louder. “It has a psychological effect,” Levey said. “Anxiety is created when you can’t hear what is going on.”
The effects of noise may be especially problematic for kids.
The best recourse, Levey advises, is to turn down the volume — and not just on those portable listening devices. Levey suggested precautionary measures like taking ear plugs to rock concerts or the shooting range, or even using them with everyday appliances like hair dryers.
Children’s toys are also very loud. Levey measured several, including a rattle with bells, that had a decibel level of 80-85. She suggested placing tape over the area of the toy that emits sound. “People can also download sound level meters for their phones for free,” Levey said. “It’s a good way to measure the sound levels when you shop.”
The effects of noise may be especially problematic for kids. “I’m interested in the effect that hearing loss has on language, especially for young children whose learning may be affected,” Levey said.
Loud noise might be an inescapable part of living in a modern, technologically advanced society, but Levey and other experts strongly suggest that you protect your ears as much as possible, keeping at least one of your senses fortified against the sensory overload.
