What Is Sound Conditioning?

By Author: Mike Zimmerman
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Sound conditioning has various scientific and industrial definitions. In a broad context, sound conditioning uses sounds to relax the human nervous system and condition behavioral responses. Various sound machines with different types of sounds are used in specific environments for different purposes. Some people think that it's quite an abstract concept and devoid of scientific evidence. Yet numerous universities have conducted extensive research on sound conditioning with surprising results. This concept continues to be one that is actively researched and new studies are proving to be very enlightening.

How Sound Conditioning Works
Sound conditioning works on the idea that certain sounds have a soothing effect on our nervous system and others have a disruptive effect. Take as an example the noise of traffic passing on a highway with the occasional horn sounding, or a train clattering on its tracks. These are examples of disruptive noises that can prevent you from concentrating or sleeping. Conversely, sounds mimicking rushing water, wind, or waves crashing on the seashore tend to have a calming effect. If studying ...
... or working, you will be able to concentrate much easier if those are the sounds filtering into your sensory system. If you want to fall asleep, you are far more likely to do so with calming background noise. When you find yourself stuck in a noisy environment, there is often little that you can do about physically moving your location. In this case, you need to look for other ways to mask the disruptive noises. This is where sound machines become rather handy.

What Are Sound Machines?
Sound machines were invented more than 30 years ago by a traveling businessman. He would sleep soundly at home but suffered from insomnia when he was abroad. He came up with the idea to mimic the soothing sounds that he fell asleep to at home. Hence, the first sound machine was born. Today, they have evolved into more complex machines but the concept is basically the same. They use calming sounds to mask disruptive sounds so that the user can better concentrate or be able to fall asleep. In more technical terms, the calming sounds are called white noise. White noise is a sound that operates at a broad spectrum frequency. Because of this, it has the ability to mask in part or in whole other disruptive noises by absorbing them into the frequency. The result is that the disruptive noises do not physically go away but your brain filters them out and therefore doesn't hear them as distinctly.

How Sound Machines Are Used in Sound Conditioning
Sound machines are placed in an environment for the purpose of masking disruptive noises. Examples are in a baby's room, a kid's play room, a study or an office. Many traveling business people use sound machines to help them fall asleep on an airplane or in a foreign hotel suite. The sounds machines mask the sounds that the person is not used to and that could disrupt their sleep.

More modern applications include using sound conditioning to calm and train animals. An example is working with horses. Many horses can get quite agitated and nervous when they need to be transported in a horse box. The closed confinement, the motion of the trailer and the noise of the traffic can all cause the horse to become unsettled. Some patented sound machines use sound conditioning to help the horses relax so they can be more easily transported.

Many corporations have expansive open plan offices. The noise levels in these open environments can be extremely disruptive to those that are trying to focus on work. Individual sound machines can be used at various stations to help reduce the amount of disruption.

Many psychologists and doctors use sound machines in their waiting rooms to mask the sound of conversations happening inside their offices. This is primarily due to the sensitive nature of the discussions. The sound machines mask part of the conversation. People in the waiting room may be able to hear that a conversation is being carried out but they cannot hear what is actually being said.

Another common application for sound machines is with babies. Often, when mothers are trying to get their children to go to sleep they may sing them lullabies. A sound machine works in a similar way. The soothing sounds emitted from a sound machine not only mask disruptive sounds, they also have a calming effect on the child. The result is that they become conditioned to fall asleep with those sounds.
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Even doctors recommend white noise sound machines such as the Marpac SleepMate 980A Sound Conditioner and the Marpac Marsona 1288A Sound Conditioner for patients who are sufferers of tinnitus or have difficulty sleeping. These patients can be shift workers who have to sleep during the day, new parents contending with a crying baby, or anyone who is easily distracted by outside noise or has difficulty sleeping for any reason. Visit Sound Machines Direct.com today.