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Ransom Riggs
Let the spirit move you — but not too much
by Ransom Riggs - August 23, 2006 - 1:50 PM

organ.JPGWhat do ghetto-blasting superfreaks who retrofit their hoopties with massive subwoofers have in common with the most avid of churchgoers? More than either camp is prepared to admit, most likely: according to a study by British acousticians, “people who experience a sense of spirituality in church may be reacting to the extreme bass sound produced by some organ pipes.” Turns out that inaudibly low but exceedingly loud sounds (AKA infrasound, or anything below 20 Hz) can have profound effects on unsuspecting listeners — be they kneeling at the altar or pimpin’ in the passenger seat. They can range from the euphoric (overwhelming joy) to the downright disturbing (“an extreme sense of loss” and “shivers down the spine”), effects exploited by church organists for the last half-millenium to help congregations feel the spirit — or at least give them a little nudge. Nudge too hard, though, and you could make more than just the spirit move: “The brown note, according to urban legend, is an infrasonic frequency that causes humans to lose control of their bowels due to resonance.” Could there any truth to the brown note legend? Take your chances on Sunday morning and find out for yourself.

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Comments (7)

  1. I love you guys for giving me information like this. It keeps my husband and I entertained for hours.

    posted by paperback writer on 8-23-2006 at 2:16 pm

  2. The Mythbusters over on Discovery busted the “brown note” myth in an episode originally aired Feb. 2005.

    posted by JB on 8-23-2006 at 4:59 pm

  3. The Mythbusters from the Discovery channel disproved the brown note by doing experiments on themselves to see whether or not it worked.

    posted by Rachel on 8-23-2006 at 6:03 pm

  4. The Mythbusters also built a car-size subwoffer and before it destroyed itself it dislodged the sunroof!

    Sound is just pressure waves. The military has sound-wave weapons that cause nausea, Joshua tumbled the walls of Jericho with trumpets, so why not LFE causing spiritual experiences? To bad those pimped out loudmobiles carry so far; some of us wish to be less religious when driving.

    posted by Phil on 8-23-2006 at 10:13 pm

  5. My brother just finished school for music and SRT (sound recording technology). He actually had a class in which they discussed the brown note and the mythbusters episode. In order for the brown note to work, the frequencies would need to be in line with your body’s organs. They failed to go low enough. They should have been going into 1/2 decibels, maybe lower.

    posted by Bri on 9-2-2006 at 9:29 am

  6. Bri, you were good right up into the end. The only issue I have with your comment is the “1/2 decibels, maybe lower”.

    Frequency is a measure of pitch, whereas decibels measures amplitude. If the guys at mythbusters really wanted to get it right, they would have exposed their volunteer, and incidentally everyone else in the immediate area, to a 7 Hz wave at 150Db or more. But then again, they might all be dead if they did that for too long. Without approaching deadly however, they can’t say they disproved anything. One would have to shake the internal organs quite violently in order for someone to lose bowel control. Maybe it would be the last thing you did before you croaked. For this reason, I don’t think anyone should ever try. Killing people on cable television never really goes over too well, the government prefers major networks.

    -Matt
    Columbia College Chicago
    Audio Arts and Acoustics

    posted by Matt on 4-24-2007 at 10:41 am

  7. Of intersting note to Phil’s about the built in car sub – I may be alittle off, but if i remember, it produced a pitch near 16Hz at a dB level of 168 dB’s…. that is absolutely amazing.

    The thing is – dB is a measure of SPL – sound pressure level (and is all relative, kinda like the Bohr scale, amongst many others). anyway – the mythbusters team were measuring the pressure that they could build up in the car – hence the 40 inch (i think) sub and the ultra low frequency. they were not even going for sound – it was all about pressure, and that they acheived quite well.

    When we experience subwoofer level frequencies enough to make us shake, we are merely experienceing the air around us making our bodies react to the pressure the sub produced…

    BTW – a really great organ piece played on a REALLY BIG organ is amazing, and a lot has to do with the 32 or even 64 ft pipes!!!

    posted by Justin L. on 10-9-2007 at 12:13 pm

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