Essay 2 - The Human Experience of Sound
- Art of Hearing | Dyon Scheijen
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
When two people hear the same sound, that does not necessarily mean they are having the same experience. The way sound is perceived develops within a person's life: in stress, fatigue, expectations, and emotions. The auditory signal encounters not just a brain, but a human being with a history.
Where Art Meets Science
The Hearing Triptych
Sound · Brain · Human Experience
Essay 2
The Human Experience of Sound
When perception becomes suffering
When we try to understand tinnitus or noise nuisance, we often focus our attention on the sound itself or on the way the brain processes auditory signals.
However, in clinical practice it soon becomes clear that a third dimension exists.
The human experience.
Two people can hear the same sound.
The same auditory signal.
The same neural activity.
And yet, their experience can be completely different.
For some, the sound remains a background phenomenon.
For the other person, it becomes a constant source of tension.
The difference often lies not only in the sound or in the brain.
The difference lies in the life into which that sound ends up.
Sound meets a life
Every auditory perception ends up in a person with their own history.
Sleep deprivation.
Stress.
Work pressure.
Fear.
Fatigue.
All these factors influence how a sound is perceived.
Stress, fatigue, sleep, attention, and emotions all play a role in how tinnitus and sound are experienced (Rilana Cima et al., 2011).
When someone is already exhausted, a relatively small sound can suddenly seem overwhelming. When someone is relaxed, the same sound can hardly be noticed.
The sound itself has not changed.
But the context in which it is experienced does.
The role of attention and struggle
Many people who experience tinnitus describe a similar process.
In the beginning, the sound is noticed.
The brain marks it as important.
The focus is on that.
From that moment, an inner struggle can arise.
Why am I hearing this?
Will this ever go away?
What if it gets worse?
Attention directed towards the sound often enhances its perception (Roberts et al., 2013). The sound appears to become more prominent.
And with that, a circle can be created:
attention → perception → tension → more attention.
This process does not mean that the sound is “imagined”.
It means that the human experience of sound arises from a dynamic interaction between body, brain, and life.
Avoidance and control
When a sound is perceived as threatening, people often try to gain control over it.
They seek silence.
They avoid situations.
They are trying to suppress the sound.
These reactions are understandable.
But paradoxically, they can actually amplify attention to the sound.
The more someone tries to control or avoid a sound, the more space the sound can take up in consciousness.
This mechanism closely resembles what is known in psychology as the fear-avoidance model, in which fear and avoidance can reinforce each other (Johan Vlaeyen & Linton, 2000).
A different approach
Within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a different approach is proposed in which space is made for internal experiences instead of constantly fighting them (Steven Hayes et al., 2012).
Instead of constantly fighting against internal experiences, an attempt is made to make space for what is present.
Not because the sound is desirable.
But because the constant struggle with the sound often causes more suffering than the sound itself.
When the relationship with the sound changes, the experience of it can also change.
The sound can remain present, but the place it occupies in life can shift.
The third panel of the triptych
In the triptych of hearing, the human experience forms the third panel.
Here, sound and brain come together in a person's daily life.
Here, it is determined whether a sound remains a neutral perception or becomes a source of suffering.
This panel clarifies why tinnitus and noise nuisance can never be fully understood by looking only at the auditory signal.
Ultimately, it is about the way a person lives with that sound.
The complete picture
When we open all three panels of the triptych, a more complete perspective emerges:
Sound – the physical stimulus
Brain – the interpretation and meaning
Man – the life in which the sound is experienced
Only when these three dimensions are viewed together does it become clear why the human experience of sound can be so different.
In the following essay, we bring these three panels together.
There, we view tinnitus as a phenomenon that arises at the intersection of sound, brain, and human.
A perspective that we can call the Tinnitus Triptych.
Where Art Meets Science
Sound · Brain · Human Experience
Literature
Cima, RFF et al. (2011).
A multidisciplinary cognitive behavioral approach to tinnitus. The Lancet.
Roberts, LE et al. (2013).
Neural mechanisms of tinnitus. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Vlaeyen, JWS, & Linton, SJ (2000).
Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic pain. Pain.
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012).
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
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