Sounds that SOOTH me...

[carum carvi]

The chiming of church bells...

The sea...

Children's laughter...

The trees in the forest and the wind gently bristling through the leaves...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzFe50RQkQ

Which sounds do sooth you...?

[lsemmens]

The sound of silence.

[carum carvi]

Have you ever experienced REAL silence? That's a rhetorical question, meaning almost nobody has experienced real (scientifically measured) silence. Fun fact. I´ll explain: I recently saw a tv documentary about a man who entered a specially designed room that had absolutely NONE, ZERO sound coming from outside. It was designed to test all sorts of equipment. He could hear his eyelashes. I repeat. He could hear his eyelashes go up and down. I am not kiddin'. And he went mad within 20 minutes and he wanted to get out immediately! Humans need sound, but sound of the good kind...

Lsemmens, of course I understand what you really mean to say when you say that you like silence: the absence of traffic, the absence of white noise etc, that might keep you awake. I have lived in an industrial area and I got SO frustrated by the noise of trucks (day and night). I really really value silence as well. But even now, I still cant live without the best of the best ear plugs...but that's the cost of living in a great, but noisy city...

P.s: I love the use of silence in movies, music and photography (see below) as well... Silence is golden...

[carum carvi]

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[Portreve]

I don't find audio-related things soothing per-se. Well, I suppose one could pick that apart by saying I did find the sound of a late lady friend soothing but, on the whole, even though I have an excellent audio memory, I think I'm more invested in other things.

Y'know, I've never really thought about this before (certainly not as it applies to myself) so for the next week or so I'm going to pay particular attention and see what audio things in particular are or are not soothing.

This is a really cool introspection thread!

[carum carvi]

Portreve, I dont know how it originated, but I have been more sensitive to sounds than other persons I guess. My brother has the same sensitivity. I have been around live classical music a lot from a young age, perhaps that could have played a part? My sensitivity to sounds (positive or negative) is not something that occupies my thoughts a lot, but I do notice that I always seem to value the sound environment around me more than others do.

Yes Portreve, that would be a fun experiment to find out if there are sounds that (consciously or less consciously) positively influence your mood during the day.

Another example of how sounds influence people: young parents who are deep asleep can be woken up by their crying baby, but a sound that is even louder than a crying baby wont wake them up. Even when we sleep, we differentiate between safe, soothing sounds and sounds of danger. This is not a rule per se, but sleep research has shown this sensitivity and ability to differentiate between sounds when one is asleep.

I have once been in an old wooden mill. Everything creaked and rattled in there, but in a very gentle way and those noises were so comforting I immediately wanted to live in that old, creaky wooden mill. Of course that was a combination of things, a wooden house looks warmer than one made of plastic and steel, but sounds always does matter to me...

Fun fact: McDonalds has done research how crispy the lettuce in their burger should SOUND when it is bitten on. They found out that a certain level of crispy sound of the small piece of lettuce activates a positive feeling in the brain. I am not kiddin'. Sugar and fat in those burgers also trigger positive feelings, everybody knows that experience , but crispy sounds (when eating), can do so as well, although in a much more subconscious way...

I cant help adding stuff, because I thought of another fun fact. BMW, the car manufacturer, has got a sound engineer on it's pay role, whose only job it is to make the BMW car sound a specific way that is comforting to the ears. When a new car is being created, he does things like slamming car doors shut and opening them again. And he is trying to create that specific car door shutting sound that is most comforting to the ears. He actually designs the sound of the entire car, all the sound the buttons make when one pushes on them included. (Mind you this is only done for the most expensive BMW top models, but I still was amazed by it)

[Flemur]

Which sounds do sooth you...?

The sound of sooth oft soothes me.

[carum carvi]

Yes, sooth, as a word, has got a nice ring to it
Quite difficult to pronounce that word for me, not being a native English speaker. Especially the "...th" sound is difficult for me. But that "...th" sound simply cant be pronounced harshly. Sooth is indeed a pleasing word by itself Flemur...

Fun fact: I have seen a documentary about people with really rare sensitivities and one person instantly smelled something when certain words were spoken. I am not kiddin. When a certain word was spoken out loud she smelled certain flavors, like if someone was cooking or holding a bunch of flowers underneath her nose when the word "green" was spoken out a loud.

[kelevra]

Having grown up in a musically talented family, I can truly say music is what I find soothing. My parents were members of many country bands. My maternal grandparents played bluegrass almost daily, guitars, violin, mandolin. I played brass instruments, sousaphone, tuba, trombone and baritone.
My sisters bought me my first album when I was in grade eight, KISS Alive on eight-track. I was mesmerized. I had never heard anything like it and would spend hours listening to that one album. I actually wore that tape out.
I have been asked many times what my favorite type of music is and I don't have an answer. I love all music. Have you ever heard Inuit throat singing? I flipped on CBC radio one night and there was this form of electronic jazz playing, it was wicked. I listened to it until I got to the rock bar I was going to.
If I had to pick one type of music that I would classify as soothing, it would be classical.

[Portreve]

Yes, sooth, as a word, has got a nice ring to it
Quite difficult to pronounce that word for me, not being a native English speaker. Especially the "...th" sound is difficult for me. But that "...th" sound simply cant be pronounced harshly. Sooth is indeed a pleasing word by itself Flemur...

Fun fact: I have seen a documentary about people with really rare sensitivities and one person instantly smelled something when certain words were spoken. I am not kiddin. When a certain word was spoken out loud she smelled certain flavors, like if someone was cooking or holding a bunch of flowers underneath her nose when the word "green" was spoken out a loud.

It's called synesthesia. Trixie, who runs the YT channel Don't Trust The Rabbit, see numbers in different colors. There's a British gentleman I listened to in a radio interview once for whom words have distinct scents.

[Swampthing]

Blackbirds singing.
The sound the water makes when I'm sailing or the sound of water lapping against the hull of the boat when I'm in the bunk going to sleep.

[kenetics]

The sound of silence.

Dead silence would drive me crazy... I would hear only the ringing in my ears (Tinnitus sufferer).

I do like the sound of rain though.

[carum carvi]

Fun fact: I have seen a documentary about people with really rare sensitivities and one person instantly smelled something when certain words were spoken. I am not kiddin.

It's called synesthesia. There's a British gentleman I listened to in a radio interview once for whom words have distinct scents.

What an amazing and wonderful world we live in.

The sound the water makes when I'm sailing or the sound of water lapping against the hull of the boat when I'm in the bunk going to sleep.

When I read your description, I could hear / remember it instantly. And that sound of the water soothes me instantly, what a great comforting sound that is indeed.

Dead silence would drive me crazy... I would hear only the ringing in my ears (Tinnitus sufferer).

I do like the sound of rain though.

I once saw a comedy movie about a man who had a burnout, he was stressed out completely. He wanted peace, silence, absence of noise. And he traveled everywhere to find some quite surroundings. Finally he found an island which was totally absent of noise and absent of people: and he hated the total silence. Lol.

Kenetics, I love the sound of rain as well, especially gently falling rain in the forest. That sound is just..oooo

[lsemmens]

The sound of silence.

Dead silence would drive me crazy... I would hear only the ringing in my ears (Tinnitus sufferer).

I do like the sound of rain though.

As do I, hence, I'd love the "sounds of silence"
@ Carum Carvi I know exactly to which you refer, In my defence, I was actually thinking of This song which is a little gauche.

[carum carvi]

Lsemmens, that Simon and Garfunkel song is not " a little gauche" at all. (I had to google the definition of gauche by the way, meaning rude, lacking sensitivity). It's a very touching song, I remember it from my childhood and this New York Central Park performance gives me goosebumps of delight. Lovely song, that is also an excellent example of how silence can be used in music... both sonically and lyrically...

[carum carvi]

Speaking of silence in arts, I suddenly remember a Paul Newman movie about an alcohol addicted lawyer called "The Verdict". Highly recommended by the way. An American classic. I mention this movie as another example of the power of silence. All throughout this movie silence is used as a way of communicating feelings. You gotta see it, to understand what I mean. But especially the final minutes of this movie are without any spoken words. But that silence that is being used in the final part of that movie is SO powerful, SO touching...ooooo

[Moonstone Man]

Speaking of silence ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjXb7U9N2nI

[carum carvi]

Music seems to activate a totally different part of the brain. That's the scientific explanation.

I dont get touched as much, emotionally, by anything as easy as music or sound does. Some parents go as far as play music to their unborn babies, because there is evidence, that soothing sounds influences unborn babies in a positive way. I even saw a documentary about a musician who earned her living by playing solely to pregnant women.

Silence in music is not easy to define. There can be a lot of active sounds being played in a song, but still there is "silence" in between the notes. One of my favorite examples of silence in music...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uUCIQ50e-4

[carum carvi]

Speaking of silence ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjXb7U9N2nI

That proves my point. You need noise to enjoy silence...
Especially when I am frustrated or really angry, then I would prefer dissonant, DIScomforting sounds to comfort / SOOTH me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR2rl_OVcl4

But even when I am not angry or frustrated I do like the deep, pulsating, intense sounds of low vibrating bass sounds. There is something about loud noises that excites / comforts / soothes me as well, provided I have the choice that I CHOOSE to hear those sounds at a certain moment. Otherwise loud, harsh sounds will drive any human being insane. "Sounds that sooth me" is not a clearly defined subject though. NOT at all...what irritates one person, will delight another...

For example, scientific research has shown that drug addicted junkies really, REALLY DISLIKE classical music. I am not kiddin´. To deter drug addicts in subways some cities choose the (cheap) option of playing classical music to disperse drug addicts from the subway.

Another example: in my own hometown high pitched sounds were being played at certain places where teenagers were gathering, with the sole purpose of dispersing those teenagers from that very place underneath bridges etc, because gathering of teenagers at certain places would make passengers nervous during evening and night hours. Those high pitched sounds could only be heard by young people, because their hearing was not as impaired yet as with older people. I found this tactic to be quite offensive and well beyond civilized behavior, but I only mention it to explain that any sound can be horrible to one person and can be a delight (or oblivious) to another person...

[iain_33]

I thought I enjoyed the sound of silence, until one night a couple of years ago I went and camped up in the mountains. It was a quiet place, the spot I picked for my tent was sheltered from the breeze, and once I was inside, it was even quieter. Once I turned my torch off to go to sleep, the dead silence was unnerving. It was as if I had to hear something, and my brain just couldn't settle until I could. I couldn't relax, my brain was searching for odd sounds, and being creeped out by them because they seemed so loud in absence of anything else.

I've realised since that it's quiet that I enjoy, rather than silence.

Other than that, rain on a window at night really sooths me. I've got an ambient noise app on my phone that recreates it (and other sounds - wind, traffic, flowing water, white noise) quite well, which is useful if i can't settle, but it's not as good as the real thing.