Silence emerges as a way to boost health

But silence is mounting a comeback, as scientists, meditation advocates and even car makers begin to see it as a way to promote physical and mental health.

Urbanization and an ever encroaching digital life have spurred a need for sound-free respites, says Beth McGroarty, research director at the Global Wellness Institute, a Miami-based nonprofit. It has grown more acute since the coronavirus pandemic left millions of people juggling their private and professional lives in confined, noisy spaces, she says. “People are desperate for silence," she says.

Long-term exposure to aircraft and road traffic noise increases the risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular disease, according to a 2008 study of 4,861 persons who had lived for at least five years near any of six major European airports, published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal. In France, the nonprofit Bruitparif estimated in a 2019 report that the clangor of roads, trains and planes reduced the lifespan of some residents of the Paris region by three years. Studies suggest that periods of silence could encourage the development of brain cells and that two-minute pauses in passages of music could decrease blood pressure and induce a relaxed state.

Measuring the long-term effects of silence on health remains challenging because many factors are at play, including how much silence one is exposed to, at what age and under what circumstances, says Robert Zatorre, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University. “It’s not exactly that silence itself is beneficial, rather it’s the fact that noise is bad for you," he says.

Already, noise canceling is showing up as a feature in consumer goods and experiences. Range hoods pack electronic chips that suppress the growl of fan motors. Cars come with thicker windows, smoother tires and audio systems that damp sound levels in the cabin. In Austria, guests of Therme Laa’s spa are asked not to make a sound as they dip their toes in the saltwater pool.

As noise awareness grows, more public venues and workplaces could develop soundproof, electronics-free spaces for people to unwind in a silent setting, says Joe Loizzo, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry in integrative medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and founder of New York-based nonprofit Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. These spaces could be lighted with natural light, painted with soothing colors and furnished with yoga mats and flexible cushions, he says.

Relaxx, an app launched last year, offers guided meditation sessions centered on the concept of intermittent silence, 10-minute silent breaks that users incorporate into their routines. “Eighty-six billion neurons in your brain will thank you for giving them some rest," says Krishna Bhatta, a Maine urologist who created the app. Intermittent silence has the added benefit of making meditation less intimidating to non-practitioners, he says.

Future advances in acoustic science could go a long way toward creating more nurturing environments, says Ms. McGroarty. Engineers at the University of Boston have designed and 3-D-printed a plastic material that blocks up to 94% of sound frequencies when placed in front of a noise source, according to a 2019 study published in the Physical Review B journal. In the coming years, this technology could be used to create walls that absorb human voices or the hum of an air conditioning system, says Reza Ghaffarivardavagh, the study’s lead author and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

One day, flicking a switch might be enough to go noise-free. Researchers in Singapore have developed a system that cancels out at least 10 decibels of the urban noise that invades apartments. The apparatus consists of 24 speakers that emit sound waves to counter some of the incoming noise, according to a study published in the journal Nature last year.

Similar systems could soon be integrated into train seats, office furniture and even our clothes to create silent bubbles, says Yoel Naor, chief executive of Silentium, an Israeli company that sells acoustics control systems used in cars made by Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC. Sophisticated algorithms will still allow us to hear sudden noises like emergency vehicle sirens, Mr. Naor says. “I believe [noise-canceling technology] will lead to being much more aware of noise," he says.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text