[Dixielandjazz] Loud Music

[Stephen G Barbone]

Dear Norm and listmates

There is a good reason for loud music, over 90 decibles. The below  
article is but one of many that describe why. Basically young  
audiences respond to loud music.

Loudest Dixieland band I ever heard was when George Brunies played  
with Wild Bill Davison at Condon's before Brunies left NYC. (late 40s?)

He and WBD had a sort of competition between them to see who could  
play louder, all the time.

As a young man, (kid really) I absolutely loved it. Today my band is  
LOUD. Why? Young audiences. <grin>

Search the web for more Sacculus information if interested.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband



Blast from the past
We've got our fish ancestors to thank for our love of music
EVER wondered why listening to loud music or singing at the top of  
your voice is such fun? Scientists at the University of Manchester say  
a pleasure-inducing hearing mechanism we've inherited from our fishy  
ancestors could be to blame.

A team led by psychologist Neil Todd, an expert in music perception,  
has discovered that the sacculus, an organ forming part of the balance- 
regulating vestibular system in our inner ear, is tuned in to respond  
to sound frequencies that predominate in music--despite the fact that  
the sacculus is not thought to have any hearing function. Even more  
curious, says Todd, our saccular frequency sensitivity appears to  
mimic that of fish--the only type of creature known to use its  
sacculus for hearing. "This primitive hearing mechanism from our  
vertebrate ancestors appears to have been conserved as a vestigial  
sense in humans," says Todd.

Because the vestibular system has a connection to the hypothalamus,  
the part of the brain responsible for drives like hunger, sex and  
hedonistic responses, Todd believes that people might be getting a  
pleasurable buzz when they listen to music--which could explain why  
music has developed into such a cultural force. This buzz may mimic  
the thrills people get from swings and bungee jumping, where motion  
stimulates the balance centre.

But there is a proviso: the sacculus only appears to be sensitive to  
loud volumes--above 90 decibels. Despite this, crooners could also  
love their own singing because sound levels in the larynx have been  
estimated to be as high as 130 decibels. "It's bloody loud in there,"  
Todd says.

Because the sacculus is buried deep within the ear, Todd and his  
colleagues Frederick Cody and Jon Banks could not measure its reaction  
to sound directly. But in regulating balance--particularly head  
posture--the sacculus evokes electrical signals in certain neck  
muscles. So the team exploited this by asking students to tense their  
neck muscles, and using surface electrodes, they measured the extra  
signals produced when the sacculus responds to sound rather than  
balance.

In tests, 11 students listened to tone pips of varying frequencies.  
Their saccular sensitivity ranged from 50 hertz up to 1000 hertz, with  
a peak between 300 and 350 hertz. On the musical scale, middle C is  
261 hertz; male and female voices have frequency ranges up to 200 and  
400 hertz respectively. The researchers will publish their results  
this spring in a forthcoming edition of the journal Hearing Research.

"The distribution of frequencies that are typical in rock concerts and  
at dance clubs almost seem designed to stimulate the sacculus. They  
are absolutely smack bang in this range of sensitivity," Todd says.  
Large groups of people singing or chanting together, such as a choir  
or a crowd at a sporting event, could also trigger the mechanism, he  
adds.

Paul Marks

 From New Scientist magazine, 19 February 2000.