SOUNDS ODD #27: Coffee Hallucinations? Yup. Caffeine Affects What We Hear, by Elizabeth Holmes
Coffee Hallucinations? Yup. |
The
next time you’re under pressure to complete an audio editing project, you might
want to avoid that extra cup of coffee.
Why? Because you’re likely to
hear things that aren’t there. High
coffee intake can cause auditory hallucinations!
Researchers
at La Trobe University, Australia conducted a study on nearly a hundred
non-clinical individuals to determine how they perceived sound under specific
conditions. Subjects were divided into
groups that were exposed to high stress, low stress, high caffeine levels and
low caffeine levels.
All participants
listened to white noise (which includes every frequency within the range of
human hearing).
Then, they were asked to
report whenever they heard Bing Crosby sing “White Christmas.”
Significantly, the song was never actually played! Nevertheless, individuals who were either under high stress or who had just
consumed high levels of caffeine (or both) reported hearing the song.
JITTERY FACTS
Caffeine
is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. It is largely unregulated and completely
legal.
Caffeine stimulates the central
nervous system in varying degrees. Here
are some reference ranges for the caffeine in coffee:
- 80
to 135 mg caffeine in 1 cup of brewed coffee - 115
to 175 mg caffeine in 1 cup of drip coffee - 100
mg of caffeine in a shot of espresso
Don’t
forget that lightly roasted beans actually contain more caffeine than dark roasts!
Researchers in this study found that five cups of coffee or more per day
can trigger an auditory hallucination.
So,
the next time you’re relying on your finely-tuned sensibilities to hear every
nuance in your audio tracks, skip that extra cup of joe. (Either that, or hope that the person who’s
listening on the other end has had as much coffee as you have!)
Adapted from: Too Much Coffee Can Make You Hear Things
That Are Not There by Christian Nordqvist, Medical News Today.
—————————————————–
ABOUT ELIZABETH
Elizabeth Holmes is a writer, voice actor, and staff editor at VoiceOverXtra, based in Northern California. She is also editor of VoiceOverXtra’s book division, including Voice Over Legal, by voice actor / attorney Robert Sciglimpaglia.
Email: elizabeth@HolmesVoice.com
Web: www.holmesvoice.com
Earlier Sounds Odd Columns: http://bit.ly/SoundsOddColumns