Near-total silence reveals that most people generate internal sound perceived as tinnitus
Evidence
It’s a classic study, carried out in the 1950s by Swedish researchers on eighty university students who did not suffer from tinnitus. They were placed individually in a soundproof room and, on coming out, asked if they heard anything. Ninety-three percent of them proved to have tinnitus in that environment. — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 571
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 571
- XREF: connects to: The hearing system actively filters and modulates sound more than passively receiving it — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 558; Extreme near-total silence can trigger panic, disorientation, and physical illness — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 474; In near-total silence a person may hear the mechanics of their own body — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 578 (+26 more)
Library Connections
- Deep silence can feel like a sensory presence rather than mere absence
#qualifies(0.85) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 35 - The human ear itself generates sound as a byproduct of amplifying incoming signals
#corroborates(0.85) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 329 - The physical structure of the ear itself shapes and constructs perceived sound
#corroborates(0.80) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 561
Broader Connections
- The brain’s evolved vigilance actively forecloses the possibility of true silence
#corroborates(0.75) - Zero decibels is a perceptual threshold, not a true physical absence of sound
#expands(0.75) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 473 - Silence enables sound to form musical relationships
#expands(0.75) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 612 - A deaf man’s brain feels less silent without hearing aids than with them on
#exemplifies(0.70) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 323 - Total sensory absence can feel generative rather than merely frightening
#contradicts(0.65) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 496