It is a well-known fact that the deep roar of the bass in electronic music stimulates people to dance. The frequencies don't even have to be in the audible range for this, as an experimental study now shows: Although subjects could not hear an extreme bass played into the music at times and were also not consciously aware of it, it encouraged them to dance twelve percent more intensively. Apparently, the vibrotactile stimulation and the effect on the organ of balance are already sufficient to address the human sense of rhythm, the researchers explain.
One more, the other less - but fundamentally human beings have rhythm in their blood: when we hear certain sequences of tones, we tend to follow them with movements - in a more pronounced form this is called dancing. Low-frequency sounds in music can encourage people to move particularly strongly. They seem to offer advantages in the perception and timing of movements over high-pitched sounds. One aspect is probably that the low frequencies affect us not only through the hearing system but also through induced vibrations and effects on the vestibular system. As part of their study, the researchers led by Daniel Cameron from McMaster University in Hamilton have now investigated the extent to which bass frequencies that are not consciously perceived can influence the urge to dance.
Special performance by the musical duo Orphx
The experiments took place in the McMaster LIVELab - a unique research facility that enables investigations at music and dance events. The LIVELab is equipped with technology for 3D motion capture and a special sound system that can recreate different concert environments. The loudspeakers can also generate extremely low frequencies that are outside the human hearing range. For their study, Cameron and his colleagues invited techno fans to a concert by the Canadian music duo Orphx at the LIVELab. Visitors were willing to be fitted with motion-sensitive headbands to record their dance moves.
During the concert, which lasted about an hour, the researchers then played low-frequency bass sounds in addition to the normal beat of the music: they were on or off for two minutes each. In accompanying experiments, they were able to confirm that these bass sounds were not audible, and also that they were at least not consciously perceived: in comparative tests, subjects could not tell when the low-frequency bass sounds were mixed into the music.
Increased "groove" in two-minute windows
But as the evaluations of the dancing behavior at the Orphx concert documented, there was apparently a subconscious perception: when the loudspeakers were switched on, the dance movements became more intense on average by twelve percent, the evaluations showed. "The results show that the intensity of dancing behavior can be increased by low-frequency sounds without people being aware of it," the scientists summarize.
They attribute this to the vibrotactile effects of the sound and, more importantly, to non-auditory effects in the inner ear. Because the vestibular apparatus, which is important for our balance, among other things, is known to be closely connected to the motor system in the brain. This system apparently captures the low frequencies and then affects the perception of "groove" - the urge to move rhythmically. According to Cameron, however, there is now a need for further research: "In order to decipher the brain mechanisms involved, the effects of low frequencies on the vestibular, tactile and auditory pathways must now be examined," concludes the neuroscientist.
Source: Cell Press, Article: Current Biology, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.035