BIRDSONG IS RELAXING
It’s not surprising that birdsong is relaxing and comforting, especially when we experience it live in nature. We have probably all experienced that1.
It’s also not so surprising why it may be so. Birds sing when they are safe. Their song signals that the environment we are in is likely safe for us too. There are no intruders and no sudden changes.
We know this through our collective and personal experience. Our culture tells us about that association through stories and art, and we have likely have those experiences ourselves as well.
It’s also very possible that we, through evolution, are hardwired for that association, just like we seem hardwired for having some fear of heights, snakes, and a few other things.
NATURE SOUNDS IN GENERAL
That’s why nature sounds in general are relaxing. In nature, when it’s normal and safe, we have the breeze through the trees, bird song, a clucking creek, and so on. It’s quiet with a few soothing sounds.
All of it signals to us, to the animal we still are, that where we are is safe. It’s OK to relax.
THE SOUNDS OF OUR CIVILIZATION
It’s also why other kinds of sounds – especially loud noise – create stress in us. Loud sounds indicate to the animal we are that something is wrong, something potentially dangerous is happening.
We are hardwired for that reaction, and a lot of research has found that connection. (Even if we don’t think we are bothered by, for instance, city noise, our physiology tells a different story.)
That’s why most animals and birds avoid loud sounds. They get stressed by it.
We are the only ones that sometimes tell ourselves we are OK with it, whether it’s loud music, machine noise, traffic, or other sounds of our civilization.
Very likely, we are also the only species that intentionally use external noise (music, TV, machines) to mask our internal noise, created by believing unexamined stressful thoughts.
Our particular civilization is built on the assumption that we are somehow separate from and different from the living systems of this planet. (Apart from seeing it as an unending resource to maintain this civilization.) That’s far from reality, and our physiological responses to the noise of our civilization is one of many reminders.
THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH
See more about the initial topic in Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants published in Scientific Reports.
NOTES
(1) It is possible, of course, to have the reverse association. I am sure some do, if they experienced something traumatic in such a setting. I am just talking about the general pattern.