Engineers aren’t boring people; they just get excited over boring things. This post may be an example of that. I just finished reading a book called “What the Ear Hears (and Doesn’t)“. Part of the book talks about infrasound, which is the very low frequency sound that our ear does not hear well, if at all [1]. Nonetheless it can have an effect on us.
First, some nerdy background: frequency is measured by how many times something vibrates over a given time. The period of time is chosen as a second, and the unit is called a hertz (abbreviated Hz). For those in the USA, the electricity coming out of your wall alternates (vibrates) at 60 times a second, or 60 Hz. There is a special frequency call the “resonance” frequency. This is the phenomenon where the frequency is at the point where it amplifies the natural frequency of an object. A simple example is pushing a child on a swing. If you time the push right, you can increase the height of the swing without pushing any harder each time.
In the 1980’s there was an engineer named Vic Tandy working in his laboratory one night. There had been rumors among the staff that the lab was haunted. This night he himself began to feel uncomfortable. He was convinced he was being watched. Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed an ominous grey shape, but when he turned it was gone. He quickly left the lab and went home.
Tandy was a fencer, and the next day he had his foil clamped in a vice at the lab to oil the blade. He noticed that is was vibrating. He moved it around and found where the vibration was strongest. He then set out to find the source of the vibration, and discovered an exhaust fan in the building had a chip on one blade, and was causing a vibration at 19 Hz. Turns out the resonance frequency of the eye is 19 Hz which can cause blurred images in the eye. Additionally these low frequencies interact with the frontal lobe of the brain and can cause discomfort, dizziness, hyperventilation and fear.
There is also some studies of these infrasounds causing “religious feelings”. For 500 years churches have had organs that can produce very low frequency sound. Those big pipes in the Mormon Tabernacle produce the very low notes one can hear but also vibration below 20 Hz.
During an experiment in London in 2003, engineers placed a large tube under a concert hall that could produce infrasound ( 17 Hz). Then they had 750 people come in over several concerts, and at different times produced the infrasound during the concert in conjunction with specific songs. The songs where the infrasound was played was different for each group. They had the concert goers fill out a survey on what they felt several times during the concert, and there was a 22% increase in “odd sensations” when the infrasound was on. From a BBC news article on the experiment:
It has been suggested that because some organ pipes in churches and cathedrals produce infrasound this could lead to people having weird experiences which they attribute to God,” said Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist from University of Hertfordshire.
“Some of the experiences in our audience included ‘shivering on my wrist’, ‘an odd feeling in my stomach’, ‘increased heart rate’, ‘feeling very anxious’, and ‘a sudden memory of emotional loss’.
“This was an experiment done under controlled conditions and it shows infrasound does have an impact, and that has implications… in a religious context and some of the unusual experiences people may be having in certain churches.”
Organ Music ‘instils religious feelings’ BBC, 2003
I find it fascinating (exciting?) when science and religion come together in this way.
What are your thoughts (if you didn’t get bored with the resonance explanation and quit reading)?
[1] it use to be thought that the human ear could not hear anything below 20 Hz. There are now some that think we can here below that.
Wheat & Tares 
It’s a fascinating subject, the effect of sound on us. I was looking for a radio programme series I heard a few years ago that looked at the subject. I’m not sure this is it, so I’ll keep looking, but it is relevant:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sk5xs/episodes/player
These are the particular broadcasts I was looking for:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008569s/episodes/player
I think it’s well recognised that sounds effect our emotional state. Why else soundtracks for films and adverts. I recall reading some time ago that when Fiona Givens was investigating the church she refused to allow the missionaries to use anything with a musical backing as she felt that was manipulative.
It is indeed fascinating to imagine seeing something because of a vibration you cannot hear.
This makes me think of D & C 131 where it’s explained that spiritual material is made of real material that is just too fine for us to see. I have always felt comfortable with the idea that spiritual effects are caused by something physical. For instance the faith to be healed can cause the healing to physically occur in the body just as the placebo effect can have a real and documented effect on healing. For me the idea that real physical things are the cause of miracles increases my understanding rather than causing me
to feel any kind of doubt in anything. Of course the universe is completely connected. We just don’t have a complete understanding of the total science… Yet.
The human brain interprets musical “resolution” as a release of sorts which can be interpreted as an emotion or good feeling or goose bumps. This happens because the hair follicles in the human ear resonate at certain frequencies and when music changes from the resonant frequency to a non resonant frequency the brain interprets that as a release of tension or a resolution.
There are many examples of this in music:
• Resolving from a dissonant chord to a harmonious chord (say minor to a major chord)
• Holding a note before the final note or singing a little trill (Adele does this is many of her songs “hello from the other si-ide. I must have called a thousand ti-imes”
• Sudden change from soft to loud or vice versa
• Driving rhythms with a simple catchy tune repeated over and over (think Beethovens 9th symphony last movement or Danny Elfman sound tracks)
About those really low Organ stops the OP talks about, if you listen to that sound all by itself it doesn’t sound particularly musical – it sounds more like a percussive clacking sound – but if you add it during the last measure of a robust hymn to end it in a robust way, it adds to this feeling of dissonance that adds emotion to the music.
When I took organ lessons at BYU, they activity teach you how to manipulate the congregation with little tricks and techniques to make the musical more emotional and interesting. (This isn’t an LDS thing, it’s common organ training). I also took acoustics classes from the physics and engineering departments; this topic is a fascinating intersection of physics, physiology, and the performing arts.
Wonderful post, Bill. As someone with sound engineering background, the subject matter really resonates with me (pun intended!). It also reminds me of a long-ago talk by Elder Richard G. Scott, in which he tapped into his own background as a nuclear engineering program manager to teach about the forces of nature that are invisible to us, but are nonetheless there, with the potential to be powerful beyond imagination. As I recall, he recounted a conversation he once had with an ignorant person who dismissed nuclear fission as a hocus-pocus fairy tale because the process is not readily visible or tangible. Elder Scott gently corrected him, of course, and expanded the lesson into a spiritual analogy.
“I find it fascinating (exciting?) when science and religion come together in this way.” I don’t see it this way. To me, this is another example of science and religion opposing each other, with science winning as it usually does. There are innumerable examples of things religion has tried to explain for centuries, then science came along and provided much better explanations. I don’t have a problem with science and religion coexisting peacefully, as I understand this process as the normal continuum of the human body of knowledge; religion and mythology were pretty much the only tools our ancient ancestors had to try and make sense of their world. But what pisses me off is when religion (LDS or any other) tries to retrench into their old, discredited arguments about how the universe works, and promote their views as superior to all others “because God says so”.
Fascinating! Do you remember years ago when the idea of subliminal messages was creating a lot of fear? The idea of subliminal messages is that things were being flashed on the screen too fast for people to consciously process, but they were designed to influence us on a subconscious level, so we would make decisions based on subliminal messaging. It’s mostly bunk, of course. Advertising and propaganda work for reasons other than subliminal messaging.
Infrasound creating emotional reactions and even sensory experiences, like seeing things, makes me wonder if it’s the same sort of idea. 22% of people had a reaction to infrasound. That a significant amount, but not an overwhelming majority. It might help explain why some people “feel the spirit” during music and others don’t. I don’t have strong emotional reactions to music. I can think music is beautiful and enjoyable, but I don’t cry no matter how beautiful the music is. Music isn’t an emotional catharsis for me. I would likely be in the 78% of the people surveyed who didn’t have any special emotions when the infrasound was played.
The idea of frequencies too low for us to hear reminds me of my brother, though. He sings bass. When a choir teacher in high school told him that most basses are actually baritones, he replied in his bass voice. The choir teacher blinked and then agreed that he sings bass. When he gets a cold and his voice drops an octave, only whales can hear him.
William is absolutely correct that sound has great impact on the feelings and thoughts of the general public. Far too few are aware of this impact.
There is a strong causal effect of music on morality. It is no coincidence that the honky tonks and bars frequented by those looking for illicit liaisons continually blast certain music from the loud speakers. Whether it be Barbara Mandrell or Bon Jovi, the immoral lyrics invite listeners to copulate like crazed weasels.
And music also has a strong impact on productivity. It is no coincidence that the legions of video gamers living in their parents’ basements blast Dua Lipa in the background while they play their violent games.
There is a cost to ignoring the impact that music has on thoughts and behaviors. Our society must recognize this impact before it is too late.
Janey, one of the programmes in the first link provided in my first comment talks about people who suffer from amusia, who have no emotional reaction to music. I don’t recall which of the four programmes covers what, but there’s also discussion of studying brain scans of music listeners.. research instigated by parlaphone on account of unexpected success of the Beatles.. or some such..
*edited to correct autocorrect spelling of name, sorry about that Janey
Thanks for a fascinating post, Bishop Bill!
“Some of the experiences in our audience included ‘shivering on my wrist’, ‘an odd feeling in my stomach’, ‘increased heart rate’, ‘feeling very anxious’, and ‘a sudden memory of emotional loss’.”
That all sounds fairly unpleasant. It occurs to me that the idea of a “religious experience” being a de facto positive thing might be a relatively recent development. After all, the scriptures are full of people whose experiences with the divine range from being overwhelmed and terrified to being afflicted with some physical impairment or paralysis. Even Joseph Smith described his angelic visitations as rendering him exhausted and ill (not to mention his being paralyzed by Satan before the first vision).
Imagine if our missionaries preached that way: “And when you pray about these things, I promise you’ll feel the spirit of the Lord. This may come as feelings of anxiety, terror, exhaustion, or you may be smitten with blindness or fall into a coma. And that’s how you’ll know that our message is true.”
” When he gets a cold and his voice drops an octave, only whales can hear him. ” Lovely word-picture [sound-picture ? ] Thx for sharing.
I think I shall watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home tonight. Could also be a good night to grill up some hot dogs, wear crocs, and go to DQ or 7-11 for some movie snacks.
Please leave Sister Mandrell out of this…
I had a friend who, during a flight, had his mind opened by the continuous droning of the engines. He could replay any piece of music he wanted in his mind with perfect clarity–including Bach. I had another friend tell of his experience driving through the desert in his Jeep. The constant droning of the knobby tires opened up his mind–and he heard the most beautiful music. Our minds are powerful. Is it any wonder that we only have limited use of them while we first attempt to resolve those matters having to do with the heart?
“Some of the experiences in our audience included ‘shivering on my wrist’, ‘an odd feeling in my stomach’, ‘increased heart rate’, ‘feeling very anxious’, and ‘a sudden memory of emotional loss’.”
That’s funny. I have the same reaction whenever I hear Donald Trump’s voice.
Party at Chet’s house! Admiral! There be whales here!
This was a great post! The OP and Toad’s comment (and lots of others) made me think. As a (terrible) ward organist (I’m all we’ve got after our other [awesome] organist moves soon—and I’m trying!), this made me think. Would llllllove for Toad to do a post on (more of) what he learned. Would be interesting for the non musicians too I’m guessing!
Adding “Yes please!” to Margie’s request for more information from Toad. I’m another organist doing my inadequate best. Plus this kind of information is fascinating.
Me too, Toad!
Another great book on this subject is “This is Your Brain on Music”
Jack Hughes – I agree with your assessment of this being another example of science and religion opposing each other. However, I have a slightly different take on religion and science being friends rather than enemies. I think religion has consistently created its own fatal problem by inserting itself into the realm of making factual claims about what constitutes reality. Facts are by nature, provisional, and IMO should be the part of faith that is open to intellectual debate and humility. We, and by we, I mostly mean scientific exploration, is regularly uprooting the facts they found yesterday in search of further light and knowledge. Religion, on the other hand, should do what it is equipped to do, provide value and meaning to those facts. Religion, again in my opinion, should be more about extracting meaning from the ongoing exploration of truth, and helping us as people reconnect to each other through community. Instead, religion has made a fool of itself over and over again, by making unequivocal factual claims that simply become irrational.
+1 for Levitin’s book. Huge fan.