In the 19th century, a strange disease appeared in North America: Prairiemadness.Today, we can still find clues of this strange disease in many works that record life at that time. In an 1893 newspaper, a reporter at the time wrote: "In the new areas, farmers and their wives are experiencing an alarming number of insanities."

Image source: pixabay

At that time, people from the United States and some European colonial countries migrated to the prairies of Canada and the western United States, which meant that they would stay away from their previous social life and start a new life in a sparsely populated area.

However, they did not expect to encounter the "prairie madness" that followed. Under the strong sense of loneliness and poor living conditions, the new local residents began to suffer from depression. Some people quickly moved back to their original residences because they could not bear it, while others endured insomnia, resentment, and even resorted to violence and suicide.

It was widely believed at the time that this was caused by loneliness. The place where they lived in the past had a rich social life. In the village, they could interact with many people and break the monotony of daily life.

But as the reporter reported at the time, on the prairie, your nearest neighbor is about 2 kilometers away from you, so it is difficult to quickly establish a trusting relationship with strangers. At the same time, the scenery on the prairie is very monotonous, "Imagine it. From fishing boats on the bay, green gables, white-walled red-roofed villages, to a remote hut on the prairie, it is not surprising that so many Europeans have lost their psychological balance."

However, there are other reasons for "prairie madness" than just unbearable loneliness and difficulty adapting to the environment.In 2022, Melcarriere and his wife had just recently settled in the prairie, and they also encountered "prairie madness." He wrote on the Internet that life on the prairie is "sunny" and "easy," but, "I'm not making this up, 'prairie madness' is a real thing that happens." After moving to the prairie, Melcarriere's wife found it hard to stand the howling wind here, and the locals also told them one thing: the unique wind here is "unusual."

He didn't believe it at first, but he gradually felt that this "evil wind" was whistling past like a banshee, which was frightening and made people feel unpredictable and unstable. A paper published in "Historical Archeology" in 2022 explained that this insanity came from the "terrible wind".

The researchers collected environmental sounds from the Great Plains (white noise from wind and rain) and sounds from the city (noise from vehicles, pedestrians, etc.). According to the human hearing curve, we are more sensitive to sounds with frequencies between 1000 and 2000Hz. However, between 2000 and 3000Hz, the sensitivity suddenly drops, and between 3000 and 8000Hz, it shows a stable sensitivity range. Therefore, people living on the Great Plains can easily hear any disturbance.

People’s sensitivity curve to sound.

Researchers found that the soundscapes of various cities are very diverse, with sounds around 1000Hz, as well as sounds at 5000, 7500, 8000, 11,000 and 16,000Hz.This shows that when the sound in the city does not disturb your life, it actually acts as a very good white noise, which can disperse various sounds. On the prairie, there is no sound to distract from the wind, which can become annoying and difficult to ignore.

Therefore, the sound of this wind is likely to cause "hyperacusis" and "misophonia." People with "hyperacusis" will be intolerable to some sounds and become stressed. After hearing certain sounds, they will feel irritated, headache and anxious, and even develop a psychological disorder called phonophobia.

For example, many people will feel irritated when they hear some decoration noises for a long time. Some people can't stand the sound of water drops and scratches due to some reasons (such as trauma), and some musicians may suffer from hyperacusis due to playing music too loudly. Musician Jason DiEmilio even ended his life because he couldn't stand all kinds of sounds.

On the grassland, the depressive feeling caused by loneliness itself, coupled with long-term listening to this wind that is difficult to ignore, will make the situation more serious, which is likely to trigger psychological disorders and affect people's behavior and mental health.This study also reminds us that in addition to the environment visible to the naked eye, sound is also an important factor that affects our lives. A 2022 report stated that 5% of heart disease hospitalizations in New Jersey were due to the state's high noise levels, and heart attack rates were 72% higher in areas with higher traffic noise.

Noise may be linked to heart health. Image source: pixabay

While the exact link between noise and heart disease has yet to be established, studies have found that noise pollution can lead to stress, sleep disorders and mood problems, all of which are related to mental health. When you are in a bad mood or state, you can also consider removing those unpleasant sounds from your life. Some people have also begun to imagine that if they immigrate to Mars, the thin atmosphere of Mars is not effective in transmitting sound, and people will face possible mental disorders in the silence like the "prairie madness".

After all, we have to face a new silent planet... Image source: Pixabay

So why is there no way to distract the sound of the neighbor’s renovation...