Photo credit: S Migaj
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This article in Time magazine by Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz, authors of Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise, discusses the dangers of noise, the fact that the world has indeed gotten noisier, and how silence changes our brains.
The Quiet Coalition’s Arline Bronzaft, PhD, and her pioneering research on the effects of noise on learning are cited, as is work by Quiet Communities, Inc. Science Advisory Board member Mathias Basner, MD PhD MSc.
The only disagreement I have with the article is about silence.
I don’t know about research animals such as the mice mentioned, but I think humans want quiet, not tomb-like silence. We want to be able to think or read without being interrupted by noise, and we want it to be quiet enough to hear the birds sing or the raindrops on the roof.
A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.
