Exposure to high infrasonic wave intensities can cause disorientation, fatigue, anxiety, panic, optical illusions, cardiac disturbances, intestinal spasms, nausea, vomiting, and eventually loss of consciousness.
That some everyday sounds bother us is not a simple mania since it can even become a phobia . Phonophobia or misophonia is a lack of tolerance to certain noises that accompany us in our day to day, especially when we have neighbors and we live on busy streets. Ventilation equipment, refrigerators, running vehicles or household appliances emit infrasound or “black noise”, and these are acoustic frequencies below 20 Hz that we feel as slight vibrations or perceive as clicking or buzzing , and whose energy is absorbed by our body.
Researchers from the Higher Polytechnic School of the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid, David Baeza and Roberto Alonso González-Lezcano, have published an article in the International Journal of Occupational safety and Ergonomics entitled «Effects of infrasound on health: Proposals to improve living conditions ”, in which they warn about the harmful effects of these vibrations on our health and propose to consider these noises in the construction of homes and buildings.
Effects that harm health
And, let’s not fool ourselves, working in front of a work in which they are constantly drilling or trying to sleep when furniture is being dragged upstairs, for example, is so annoying that in addition to making us lose concentration on the tasks we are carrying out, causes us a headache and can even take away the desire to carry out depending on what tasks …
As the researchers explain in their article, “the adverse effects and fear generated around this infrasonic frequency band are due to the fact that it is closely linked to the functionality of the internal organs of the human body . The infrasound evokes a biological resonance of our internal organs (lungs, heart …), and to a greater extent of the central nervous system (CNS), which leads to a movement and distortion of cells ”.
A large number of publications explain separately the consequences of the absorption by human beings of infrasound emitted by the vibration of trucks , buses, tractors, bridges and machines of all kinds. Being exposed to high intensities of infrasonic waves can cause disorientation, fatigue, anxiety, panic, optical illusions, cardiac disturbances, intestinal spasms, nausea, vomiting and, finally, loss of consciousness.
«The main problem with exposure to these waves is that, while the audible sound above 80-90 dB begins to be annoying to us and above 120 dB it causes us pain, in the case of infrasonic waves they may be receiving large amounts of energy, without hearing them. A direct relationship is not perceived between the harmful effects that may be being felt in a non-localized way in the organism with a specific sensation of receiving, for example, a blow, a thermal sensation or an audible sound ”, indicate the authors.
Experts warn that current regulations on acoustics in buildings focus on the requirements for acoustic insulation of the building’s living quarters from adjacent areas and from outside noise; as well as requirements for acoustic insulation of the constructive elements that compose it, acoustic absorption requirements for specific areas of the building and requirements related to noise, but infrasound are not taken into account.
How to reduce “black noise”
For Baeza and González-Lezcano, the proposal is to also take this “black noise” into account: “We propose that architects take into account where the air conditioning, ventilation, pressure groups, generating sets and installations in general of the future restaurants, and the facilities and ventilation rooms of the offices and commercial premises that will be placed on the ground floor of the buildings once they are finished, so that they determine the situation of the rooms of the houses on the first floor of those buildingsthat, in our opinion, they should be as far as possible from where said equipment is presumably going to be placed because they are emitters of infrasound and low frequencies of audible sound, ”they detail. Likewise, they propose to the administrations that they establish minimum distances from roads with ample traffic of cars and trucks to where new houses are to be built.
