The psychological effects of a good sound

The sounds can be considered primary stimuli with which the individual relates even before birth. During the prenatal period, in fact, contact with the external environment is already regulated by sounds. The foetus perceives the low tones of the mother’s heartbeat and breath, gaining a pleasant sense of sedation. In the fourth month of pregnancy, the auditory apparatus then enables it to perceive the phonemes of the mother’s voice, which have the effect of exciting its mobility. These stimuli immediately take on an affective value (as is shown by the recognition of the mother’s voice after a few weeks of life or the wholly personal memory of a melody that accompanied us to sleep as children). These indistinct sounds therefore constitute the first senso-motorial experiences of our development and the first rudimentary experiences of pleasure.

That is why music is a cuLtural element that eclectically accompanies practically all human populations. Since the time of ancient Greece, music was attributed the power to influence lived experiences and the behaviour of listeners to the point that the harmonic system was based on a scheme of sound intervals called “modes”, each of which was thought to transmit a different state of mind. Precisely from the reflections on the emotive and evocative power of music, a discipline called “music therapy” has developed over the centuries.

Michele De Lucchi, Gerhard Reichert

BETELGEUSE è un oggetto da tavolo, è dotato di cinque sorgenti luminose direzionabili, due sono bianche, le restanti tre montano dei filtri dicroici colorati. Tutte le sorgenti sono dimmerabili. La lampada alla base integra un filtro elettrostatico che purifica l’aria, e nella sommità ospita un diffusore acustico che riproduce il suono della sorgente sonora ad esso collegata. L’apparecchio è in grado di intervenire nell’ambiente circostante

Carlotta de Bevilacqua

RIGEL è una lampada da terra che emette frontalmente luce colorata e presenta alla sommità una sorgente alogena indiretta. In presenza di persone accende la luce cromatica. Il corpo della lampada da spenta è uno specchio perfetto, quando viene acceso lascia passare la luce colorata delle sorgenti interne. Sul dorso della lampada sono ospitati due filtri elettrostatici. Sulla lastra frontale del prodotto c’è un foro attraverso cui avviene la generazione del suono. Rigel è un prodotto che lavora sulla relazione uomo oggetto.

From the bioLogical perspective, although the effects that music has on our brain functions has not yet be e n precisely identified, various clinical observations have highlighted the benefits that music produces on the organismo. Some studi es show how sound pollution is the cause of an increase in anxiety and stress responses, with an increase in the production of adrenaline, cortisol and a reduction of the growth hormone. On the other hand, it has been found that promoting good sensory stimulations through music in environments full of s tressful stimuli (such as hospitals) seems to balance patients’ physiological responses. Some studies hypothesise a direet influenee of musie on the regulation of the hormones responsible for the functioning of our immune system. These organic effects seem to be important responses, not only for the reduction of stress, but also to ‘ reduce depressive symptoms. This positive effect of music on the quality of experience and on sociality has inereased when people have been put in the position of being able actively to choose the type of musie and the moments and places and in whose eompany to enjoy the pleasure of sound.

The positive action of music has also been found to be important, particularly in the age of evolution, for the development of the harmony of movements, Music in fact has a direct function on the body, favouring the transfer of the harmony of its sounds to eco-ordinated and specular motor actions.