When you go to a concert and lose yourself in the music and describe it as an out of body experience? Once you go home are your ears ringing and numb for the next two days but totally worth it? Although live concert events are amazing opportunities to see beloved artists, hang out with friends or just have a fun time there are serious consequences due to the dangerous volume levels. Granted, not everyone goes to concerts frequently but there can be alternatives established to keep volumes safe and listeners immersed.
Researchers found that the bass allows listeners to become more immersed. Increasing the bass won't turn a song into a hit or a party anthem but if the song is meant to be high energy the bass can take the song up a notch without raising overall volume.
The brain's immediate reaction to more bass has zero effect, pathways did not care for more bass, but there more was response to the bass over time as the song continued. There is a weak but statistically significant effect in low brain waves, the brain was using the bass to lock into/engage into the music more as the song progressed. Strong vibrations (feeling the bass) can activate the vestibular system (balance system in inner ear), when the powerful bass hits the body, a whole other system is involved within the sense of space and stability (hear, balance and touch) contributing to the overall immersive feeling (Epain et al., 2025). Bass amplification does effectively enhance the emotional experience of music, especially the feelings of overall energy and excitement. This leads me to wonder what concerts could potentially look like if music was lowered at concerts but was still lively enough to keep listeners engaged while protecting hearing. Would you still attend these events?
I thought this post was very interesting because I never understood the correlation between increased bass and elevated brain waves. Also, I think it is very interesting and it makes total sense that increased bass causes people to feel more immersed because you feel like a part of the song when the sound waves are making your chest tremble. A question I have is, do you think increasing bass in music could lead to the development of vertigo? I ask this because a PT I shadowed was telling me that vertigo is caused when tiny crystals in the ear become dislodged and those crystals play a crucial role in your vestibular system.
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