Electronic Tones...

One time on NPR, this guy did a story about his research related to all of the TONES we hear in our lives. He visited several large corporations and sat inside cubicles, monitoring all of the sounds. For example, the computer CPU had a tone that sounded like a very high F#. The small refrigerator the cubicle owner had under his desk had a faint, lower B-flat tone. When his phone rang, the pitch was around an A-natural. On and on, he listed off all of the tones within this little area and found that they were in dischord. As a result, he felt the guy working in that area had a lower productivity level...his brain was being involuntarily flooded with tones that argued with one another...complete tonal chaos.

Then, he told about some work he'd done in an apartment owned by a young couple. He worked with all of the electronics in their home to create tonal harmony. Everything was tuned to be within an A# major chord. Within 1 hour, the couple, who had been angry at one another for months, began making love right on the kitchen counter! No, that part didn't really happen, but, I remember the woman saying, "For the first time in months, my husband looked handsome to me!"

So, as I sit her, I hear a loud TV in another room on TBS, the fridge is buzzing on an E, there is a clock ticking on the wall, the CPU on this new computer is fairly silent, but when I crouch down, I can hear this funky, scary so of popping and whining. The postman's car just pulled up to the mailbox. It's an old Dodge Aries K-Car, so it's tone is just plain ol' flat and sluggish...my guess is that it is a low, low G. The lamp on this desk has one of those halogen bulbs that sounds like a high, high D-flat, and, well, my stomach is grumbling at E. Talk about dischord! My brain is hearing all of this noise, including the loud tapping of this new keyboard, which I find extremely irritating!
No wonder I yell at my husband and kids. Their natural vocal tones really mess up my chaos!