Is it sounding like noise?

"The difference between sound and noise, is that noise is unwanted."

There is much in the media at the moment about wind farms. In particular about their viability as an alternative energy source. The government is concerned about the  “Noise” they make. There is an excellent paper outlining all that relates to wind farms, "noise" and their development for anyone who wishes to know more."The noise emissions associated with Wind Farming in Australia".

Windfarms create high levels of infrasound and low level frequency noise. 
They say you can have a normal conversation standing underneath a wind turbine. 
Those who oppose the wind turbines say that these infrasonic frequencies might release endorphins that won't let people relax: it might interfere with our brain waves. There is much that we don't know yet about sound and all of its properties. What we do know is that coal can be hazardous for many reasons. It was certainly a respiratory hazard, with other adverse health effects, acknowledged by  the Royal Commission into the Hazelwood Open Cut Mine Fire in 2014.  

Sound can be classified into different frequencies. The frequency is the speed at which it vibrates per second: Interestingly, Hertz is the German word for Heart. I remember at University delighting in the coincidence: the possibility that something at a higher frequencies might have a higher “Heart"
Just so you know...
Infrasonic: below 20z
Ultrasonic: above 20000 Hz
Supersonic: (faster than the speed of light). 

Where I am living in the urban bush (the middle of a State Park) presently, there are 3 sonic mice repellants plugged into wall sockets. Apparently, they are working well here, as before there were lots of mice in the house. I haven’t seen any, nor heard any (which is nice!). It seems like the dawn of a new implementation of technology, with sound being used to repel many animals. Using a phone app can exude the correct infrasonic frequency to repel mosquitoes. The mosquito frequency sits between 9.6 and 18.2 Hz depending upon the many factors that affect when mosquitoes come out to eat. Mice frequency sits higher at 32-62 Hz. And, just for some extra knowledge those dog and cat whistles are ultrasonic, being at 20000-25000Hz, out of our human hearing range. Check out our human Ranges of Hearing.

Just because we can’t hear something as humans, doesn’t mean it is not “hearable” (audible) It still means that it exists and we may just need the correct instruments to measure the sonic patterns. It can still affect us, possibly in both positive and negative ways. Here is a great story of a hearing impaired man who is recording the wifi landscape.  Wifi also has an infrasonic frequency and it is growing rapidly around us. Most homes these days in our modern, urban world are connected to Wifi and yet no one says their Wifi is noisy. (They may and do voice concerns about it in our environment).

We have found and are still finding all sorts of uses for these sound frequencies. 

As I sit here writing this, I have the crackle of the open fire, birds singing in the late pre-spring sun and the constancy of the Yarra River that never seems to stop making sound. I have been wondering whether the river is classified as white "noise", or pink "noise". As the river is near the rapids, apparently, it is more like red noise. It is loud and constant and took me a long while to get used to it.  I wrote a poem about the sleepless nights, called RiverBed.

All these colours remind me that there are rainbows of colour in light and that through the light we can see the colour. Messiaen was certainly a composer who used particular scales as they represented particular colours, and it is the Synesthete who often will say they see colours when they hear music. How exactly are light and sound related, and how do we explore this in more depth? I am indeed curious. 

The many different coloured noises are also amazing. Pink noise is white noise, with a predominance of lower frequencies so it sounds deeper.Pink noise affects tides and river heights, our heart beat, and the firings of single neurons. Pink noise can be found in pitch and loudness variations in speech and music.

White noise has been used as a remedy for tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and some people turn their radios to off the dial to get this white noise, and there are a multitude of you tube videos as well as sleep CD's to assist those who hear the constant zing. 

There is a voice and speech exercise that focuses on garnering the breath to sustain fricative sounds. The first is ssssss, which is “white noise” The second is shshshsh, which is pink noise.

Interestingly, a study in one of the big four banks here in Australia revealed that with piping pink noise through their speakers, there were less reported complaints. So perhaps pink noise is a key in achieving harmony…So much yet to discover about these frequencies. 

Back to wind farms....Engineers are looking to Owls for creating  the best blade design for wind farms, as Owls are renowned for hunting and flying soundlessly and they are keen to make blades that emit the smallest amount of "noise". We are on the cusp of this new advancing technology. 

What are your thoughts?

Riverbed

 The river of Sound

is endless.

Ongoing

Never ceasing

Overflowing

At night

In the dark

It feels like it is running

Through my bed

Through my head

Through my clothes

In my toes

The sound

The noise.

Breathing in to welcome the day

Breathing out

The river

The stream

The consciousness

The very life of this city

Is outside my window

Flowing to the sea.

It bursts along

Droplets flowing

Never knowing

The sound they’re making

In a quaking

Me into another night

Of no sleep.

The presence of the sound is strong

In the valley

With the birds

With the trees

Nature delights

Nature’s delight

Irritants and the voice

Is it irritating to be a Diva?....the importance of nose breathing.

The subject of voice and irritants arises, often amongst professional voice users, such as teachers and singers. Not for who is irritating to listen to instead speaking of irritants in our environment. Teachers, Actors and Singers can work in environments with dusty, dry and sometimes chemically laden air.

I have had clients who have suffered from sudden (and often violent) allergic reactions, from aeroallergens and irritants such as cedar trees, perfumes, grasses, spray'n'wipe amongst others. Most people, understandably,  get a fright when they realise that they can't breathe.
Most people try to talk while they are still coughing. Often not pausing to inhale again, concentrate of the breath and relax more fully. For some, it is almost as if the cough is in itself an irritant, and, by pushing through it, it will just go away.

There is a great article on aeroallergens and the voice. The difference between Asthma attacks and Vocal Cord Dysfunction is explained well here. 

So if we are afflicted with a sudden change of breathing, we might think  "G*sh, I don't know what this is, but its making it hard to breathe, and I'm coughing" Do we stop? Do we push on and keep talking or singing?

I was in a group voice class the other day. It was utterly delightful. There was a free and open feeling in my voice aided by incredible ease of lung expansion and long and easy breaths. I found my range exhilarating, and it was one of those beautiful times where everything felt wonderful. I was in the zone. There had been noise of construction outside the studio space all morning, and suddenly the smell of burning tar entered the building. It was intense. Before I could "breath in through my nose", I had open-mouth inhaled air laced with the smell particle of hot, burning asphalt.

What to do? I stopped. It stopped the class. I didn't really want to speak, as I was trying not to cough, so I quietly mentioned the smell. I then started to cough a little. I was grateful for the many hours of sessions as well as professional development i have done on chronic cough as well as keeping the throat open. I was sure there was "nothing" in my throat, despite the urge to voraciously clear the living daylights out of it. So I sat with it. Quietly. Inhaling through my nose, and breathing out through pursed lips, and implementing other techniques as I needed to. It was highly uncomfortable.  I knew that it would pass, and I would have to be patient.

It was the last half hour of class, so I didn't participate. Even though I really wanted to. It didn't feel right. I didn't have my breathing sorted nor my airways feeling easy and open. Breath is the very foundation of our being. It is the floors to our house, our canvas to our paint. I felt a bit "Diva-ish" sitting on the sidelines, whilst the rest of the class continued. And it was that feeling that made me feel uncomfortable as well as the throat sensations. I also was grappling with the 'but it had felt so great, and now it feels so horrible". However not panicking. Breathing.

It got me thinking afterwards. When is it that we push through and keep voicing? I mean in survival situations of course we would have to. It also raises the idea of what you might perceive to be a "survival" situation: If you were in a show and had one of these allergic reactions, would you still keep going? Would it depend upon how much you valued your voice (or how much monetary value it had)? If you were a Diva at LaScala, would you stop and if you were in an amateur chorus would you stop? And who would urge you to keep going? Yourself or the Director? And yes, it does gets complex. Do we place a value on our vocal health? And when is it valid rather than 'overdramatic'? It is a tightrope that we walk on at this time: knowing our body, knowing our obligations, and ensuring we honour both as much as is possible.

These sorts of allergic reactions are largely invisible. Initially for me, there was coughing and shortness of breath, with lingering different sensations. The desire to throat clear was defintely present: If I had entered into a state of guilt such as  "They must think I am putting it on" I could perhaps have indulged in some level of vocal theatrics and throat clearing to ensure that everyone would know it had indeed affected me. And if I had panicked, I might have closed my throat and became even more breathless and sure that "something is in my throat". Instead, I was silent. I moved towards people to speak with them gently and succinctly. I remained mostly silent, sipping water, swallowing.

It also raises the concept of internal versus external circumstances that we can change. Externally, I could have left the space, but would have been confronted by the tar men right outside the door. I went to the kitchen to see if I could get water and boil the kettle to steam, but indeed the kitchen smelt worse than the studio. So I turned my focus to my internal situation. Luckily, I had an understanding teacher that knows about Vocal Health and was supportive of the decision.

So instead, I waited, inhaled, exhaled and repeated this pattern for a while. And eventually, I had a cup of hot water, after I had "steamed" the water from the cup.

So a silent Diva of sorts...



Some practicalities.......
Why is it important to nose breathe?

Well, basically nose breathing warms, filters and humidifies air. The nose acts like a screen against anything unwanted coming into the lungs. Fumes, dry, dusty air, smoke can all be triggers for "irritants" and it usually catches us unawares. For some who have significant reflux, they may have a sudden "meeting" with the acidic taste in their mouth and throat. 

Why is it important not to throat clear?
The same cartilages in the voice box that come together gently for speaking, bang against each other strongly. It can cause swelling and irritation...and the desire to throat clear even more. The analogy of a mosquito bite comes to mind. 

What can I do if this happens to me?
Remove yourself from the irritant if it is possible, or place tour hand or scarf over you nose and mouth.
Breathe through your nose and out through gently pursed lips.
Sip water, swallow strongly.
Try not to clear your throat.
Gently hum if you are unsure and see how that feels to make sound. 
Don't panic!