While in Antigua I stopped at the book store and was attracted to a rather unassuming book entitled THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF by Norman Doidge (see Resources for link).
Since I work with people’s nervous system as a Doctor of chiropractic, I’m always open to and interested in brain science.
Well , not only is the book a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain, it is also a fascinating read! One item that caught my attention deals with loud noises or music affecting infants and young children. These findings of Michael Merzenich, who is the driving force behind research studying the brain‘s “neuroplasticity “ (the ability to reshape and reform itself) are quite clear.
During the critical period of a child’s development (infancy), plasticity is at its height. Such sensitivity allows babies and very young children in the critical period of language development to pick up new sounds and words effortless, simply by hearing their parents speak; mere exposure causes their brain maps to wire in the changes.
Merzenich found that the infants brains are so sensitized, that prolonged loud music or noise can cause such an overload to the brain’s wiring that the brain becomes hyper excitable and hypersensitive . Only one frequency can start the entire brain firing.
Autistic children have this problem. When asked to focus on one thing, these children experience booming, buzzing confusion; one reason autistic children often withdraw from the world and develop a shell. One disturbing study showed that the closer children lived to a noisy airport in Frankfurt, Germany, the lower their intelligence was. A similar study on children in public housing high rises above the Don Ryan Expressway in Chicago found that the closer their floor was to the highway the lower their intelligence.
After reading this, I immediately thought about the many nights of exceptionally loud music I‘ve endured on Dominica. What about the infants and small children right next to the blasting speakers? Could this impact their intelligence? According to Merzenrich the answer is yes.!
Merzenrich also thinks this “over stimulating problem” in milder form may contribute to more common attention disorders. This is HUGE! Loud music for prolonged periods seems to become a negative influence on young childrens’ brains that can lead to autism, ADHD, and other attention disorders. So parents, remove your children from prolonged loud noise /music or request that the loud music be modified or stopped. Your child’s health, intelligence and well being depend on it.
