| 08/01/02 |  |
| Noisy Music to Sleep By | |
| by Rosie Russo |
Well, not just any noise. It's those
ambient sounds that fill the background of our lives, and babies' lives, too --
that's called "white noise." Here's a little from one of the cuts on
"For Crying Out Loud -- Unlikely Sounds to Calm your Baby" -- see if
you can place it:
This is from "Gentle Cycle" -- eight minutes of the sounds of the washing
machine. All of the eight tracks on this CD have clever titles, like "Low-commotion,"
with the sounds of a car's wipers in the rain, and "Give it a Restaurant"
-- who would have thought that the clatter of cutlery at the neighborhood eatery
would have a soothing effect on an infant? But then you've probably noticed how
babies often seem to fall asleep in the midst of auditory chaos, and how often
we adults also need certain kinds of sounds to calm us before bedtime -- a radio
playing quietly next to our ears, the clicks of crickets, or the familiar bustle
of others moving around in the house.
Researchers have speculated that this has to do with our constant closeness to sounds as we grew in our mother's womb and were bathed in the comforting aural music of her heartbeat. Which is why, for several decades, many pediatric wards have been provided newborn infants with teddy bears or other stuffed animals that have tape recorders built into them to play what the creators of this CD call "Chamber Music" -- that first, iambic rhythm of life.
As for me, I think I'll put on the final track and just go to the beach for a few minutes:
Copyright © 2002, Rosie Russo
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