The Sound of Silence and Time

A recent study from Johns Hopkins (1) shows that humans are able to hear silence the same way as they hear sound. The time distortion that humans perceive in longer and shorter sounds appear to be the same as in the case of silence. Silence, thus, behaves exactly like sound signals from a human perspective.

Sensitivity to silence must have had evolutionary advantages. At the heart of African Savannah, survival may have depended on understanding the dynamics of silence as much as that of sound. And the perception that more time has passed in the presence of a longer silence as opposed to two shorter silences of combined equal length may be driven by fear. Silence must have been rare when humans were growing up. Danger was all around them, and cunning cats are known to patiently wait for their prey. With no visuals on the predator and prey in the close neighborhood, humans may be further exasperated by ensuing silence. Silence may be used as a marker for impending danger. It would be interesting to study the fear response in humans during silence.

Also interesting in this context is how babies perceive silence. If the behavior is seen early, then we could conclude that the skill is innate and not learned. Sound pollution may affect this skill and if so, such sensitivity may decline with age. It would also be interesting to ask if musicians are more or less sensitive to silence.

The sound of silence and associated time distortion is a rich area to further study.

(1) The sound of silence? Researchers demonstrate people hear it — ScienceDaily