Relaxing Sounds

[Digit]

Re: Question 74956, I never met anyone who particularly liked tick, tock..., but I like this brown noise (no, not the same as brown note).

[Whistler]

the Board isn't loading for me but I hope they included http://www.rainymood.com/

[NerdGirl]

I have this app on my phone that has all these relaxing sounds and you can combine them and do things and stuff. But one of them is a foghorn, and i'm just like, seriously?!

[Whistler]

okay, I read the question. I really like the sound of ticking clocks, but my husband doesn't. For a while we played a rain sounds CD every night as a way to help him sleep, and at first I would wake up thinking I left the water running somewhere. I got used to it though.

I really like the sound of someone else putting the dishes away. I think ceramic plates and bowls make interesting sounds when they scratch each other and have fantasized about like making a noise album out of them. I like the sound canteens make when they hit other things and when they're partially full of water, with and without fabric coverings. I'm not sure if "noise" is an actual genre but I remember I stumbled on a few experimental albums that were... basically noises. It made me think about sound differently.

Sometimes I find the sound of someone typing creepy if it isn't me, but if I know who is typing it doesn't bother me. My mother used to type very quickly, but had to make frequent use of the backspace key, which is a cadence I find stressful.

When I find a noise bothersome, sometimes I will keep listening to it. Usually it's a noise in an electronic album or something, and I consider it a challenge, but maybe I'm a masochist at heart? The sound I like the least and actively avoid is that of cardboard ripping uncleanly, so that its thickness varies along the cut.

[Whistler]

I also like the sound of things rolling, like a bowling ball on a bowling alley or a glass cup on wood flooring. I also like the sound bowls and other round objects make when they're rolling where it starts slow and gets really fast. They're anticipatory sounds though, so even though they're relaxing there's some tension in them.

[Portia]

I hate the sound of fluorescent lights. It sets my teeth on edge every time I have to turn on my room light, and I often grope for the lamp instead.

My work has loud fluorescent lights, too. Really, any humming sound drives me nuts, like the squealing of bus engines or (the worst) other people's music through headphones.

I'm unusually sensitive to sounds in a high register, I think. I can hear a TV practically on mute from several rooms away, and the guys I date never can.

[UffishThought]

I hate the dry scratchy sound of yarn through fingers. Or construction paper through fingers. It wigs me out a little just thinking about it.

(Oops. That's a pet peeve, not a relaxing sound. Uh, I like crackling fire sounds. And the song "Wagon Wheel," when sung by OCMS, makes me feel more relaxed and content within the first few notes.)

[Portia]

It's cliché, but I do find Classical/Baroque/Romantic music to be very relaxing, especially Beethoven, Clementi, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

I hate the dry scratchy sound of yarn through fingers. Or construction paper through fingers. It wigs me out a little just thinking about it.

(Oops. That's a pet peeve, not a relaxing sound. Uh, I like crackling fire sounds. And the song "Wagon Wheel," when sung by OCMS, makes me feel more relaxed and content within the first few notes.)

YOU WENT THERE.


I CANNOT STAND THE SOUND THAT STYROFOAM MAKES RUBBING AGAINST ANYTHING. ESPECIALLY OTHER STYROFOAM. GIVES ME THE SHIVERS ALL OVER MY BODY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

[Digit]

I think the reason I don't like the cliché fingernails-on-chalkboard is because I'm already envisioning the fingernails on the chalkboard, and because the sound is so friction-y, I picture the fingernails coming back and off.

[Whistler]

(And the song "Wagon Wheel," when sung by OCMS, makes me feel more relaxed and content within the first few notes.)

Man, I do not know how you find that relaxing. I really like this song by M83: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y35DO_WfWvA and basically anything by the Kings of Convenience, if we're going for relaxing music.

In the M83 song you can hear the fingers moving between the frets on the strings, which might be irritating since it's kind of a scratchy sound, but for some reason I find it all relaxing.

[thatonemom]

I love cello music, especially to fall asleep to. I made the mistake of watching The Piano Guys, though. And now when I hear their music all I can imagine the pained musician face the cello player tends to sport while he plays. It's less relaxing now. But still pretty music.

[Yarjka]

I had an alarm clock growing up that had three settings for 'relaxing sounds' to choose from. One was a train going down the tracks, one was waves on the ocean, and the third was water dripping from a faucet. I could never figure out how anyone was supposed to relax to water dripping from a faucet. Our real faucets dripped water and I hated the sound. The artificial sound was no better.

[Violet]

I had an alarm clock growing up that had three settings for 'relaxing sounds' to choose from. One was a train going down the tracks, one was waves on the ocean, and the third was water dripping from a faucet. I could never figure out how anyone was supposed to relax to water dripping from a faucet. Our real faucets dripped water and I hated the sound. The artificial sound was no better.

Story time: when my little sister was a baby she loved the sound of running water (and vaccuum cleaners but that's not relevant here) to the point my mom recorded it on tape to calm her down when she was fussy (she was a non-pacifier baby). Dripping water makes me anxious in the just waiting for the next one way (the snooze function on alarm clocks is similar).

On the relaxing side, I love the soft whooshing noise of central air and heat. It's especially great on lazy mornings when I'm cuddled up in bed. I also love cello music. The resonance is just great. One of my previous roommates was a cello performance major and I loved when she would practice at home.

[UffishThought]

(And the song "Wagon Wheel," when sung by OCMS, makes me feel more relaxed and content within the first few notes.)

Man, I do not know how you find that relaxing. I really like this song by M83: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y35DO_WfWvA and basically anything by the Kings of Convenience, if we're going for relaxing music.

I find your selections relaxing in that they make me sleepy. I find Wagon Wheel relaxing in that it . . . I don't know quite how to explain it. Do you know that feeling where you've been making a fist, but didn't realize it, and then you realized and relaxed the fist, and the return to normalcy felt wonderful? It's like that, but emotional. It removes tension I didn't know I had.

Also in that category: Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai from Rab Ni Bana De Jodi. Mmmmmm.

[Marduk]

There is no sound that relaxes me. The most relaxing thing is complete silence (or, at least, as close as I can get.) But that's probably because I have tinnitus.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Story time: when my little sister was a baby she loved the sound of running water (and vaccuum cleaners but that's not relevant here) to the point my mom recorded it on tape to calm her down when she was fussy (she was a non-pacifier baby). Dripping water makes me anxious in the just waiting for the next one way (the snooze function on alarm clocks is similar).

My brother, when a baby, used to refused to go to sleep until he heard the Star Trek theme song. My mother finally figured out that she could record it and play it whenever she wanted him to sleep. Worked like a charm.

I recently found I'm with Marduk on the silence thing. Sometimes when I'm really stressed (I get paranoid when I'm stressed out enough) I play sacred choir music, a Jane Austen audiobook, or Uchtdorf's general conference talk from April.

[Whistler]

Also in that category: Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai from Rab Ni Bana De Jodi. Mmmmmm.

I love that movie

[Digit]

William Shatner of Star Trek fame has tinnitus as a result of an accident on the set while shooting the episode "Arena" . Full circle.