http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/2009/11/white-noise-and-the-developing-brain/ a blog about predictive medicine and the future of healthcare Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:50:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/2009/11/white-noise-and-the-developing-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-4618 Brian Mossop Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:05:02 +0000 http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-4618 It's true the white noise was continuous in the study I cited. I would ague against the study being "sensory deprivation" because A.) we found developmental deficits when the white noise was pulsed (http://www.pnas.org/content/99/4/2309.long), and B.) the sound intensities we were using were relatively low (<65dB). Waterfalls, although a natural stimulus, have nothing to do with animal (including human) communication. Since the critical period of the animal is about setting the brain to efficiently handle communication, playing white noise, in fact, can be detrimental. There are many, many papers on this topic. Would be happy to point them out to you. It’s true the white noise was continuous in the study I cited. I would ague against the study being “sensory deprivation” because A.) we found developmental deficits when the white noise was pulsed (http://www.pnas.org/content/99/4/2309.long), and B.) the sound intensities we were using were relatively low (<65dB). Waterfalls, although a natural stimulus, have nothing to do with animal (including human) communication. Since the critical period of the animal is about setting the brain to efficiently handle communication, playing white noise, in fact, can be detrimental. There are many, many papers on this topic. Would be happy to point them out to you.

]]> http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/2009/11/white-noise-and-the-developing-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-4617 styopr Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:32:21 +0000 http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-4617 Well, it is my understanding that the rats were exposed to constant white noise, according to articles about the subject (HMMI, April 18th, 2003). This would amount to auditory "sensory deprivation". It doesn't take a genius to figure out that without stimulus the brain would atrophy. (Or maybe in our "intellectually deprived world" it does). Doing this experiment to rats in labs is not natural. White noise is designed to mimic natural phenomena, like waterfalls. Exposing children to natural phenomenon, like watefalls, in order to calm them, is natural. Playing with rats in a lab to tell us what we already know is not. Get a brain, don't experiment on one. Well, it is my understanding that the rats were exposed to constant white noise, according to articles about the subject (HMMI, April 18th, 2003). This would amount to auditory “sensory deprivation”. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that without stimulus the brain would atrophy. (Or maybe in our “intellectually deprived world” it does). Doing this experiment to rats in labs is not natural. White noise is designed to mimic natural phenomena, like waterfalls. Exposing children to natural phenomenon, like watefalls, in order to calm them, is natural. Playing with rats in a lab to tell us what we already know is not. Get a brain, don’t experiment on one.

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