Can a loud bass effect the heart?

[Serena15]

Sorry if this is a silly question.... does anyone know if a loud bass can effect the heart like the vibrations? I’m at a gig with a loud bass and the thought just popped into my head.

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

The bass itself will not be a problem. However if you have a pacemaker or an ICD don't stand too close to the speakers as there is a magnetic field that could disrupt it. I was stood 20 feet in front of a UB40 concert last year and survived!

[Hidden]

Your question intrigued me as last time I was at an event with a loud band, I thought my heart felt weird. I have a fib. So I contacted Dr Google and here is what I found from a reputable source:

ALL CONTENT

Heart Disease Linked to Loud Noise

The Hospitalist. 2015 October;2015(10)

Author(s): intern USB2B

NEW YORK - People with long-term exposure to loud noise at work or in leisure activities may be at increased risk of heart disease, a U.S. study finds.

Researchers found the strongest link in working-age people with high-frequency hearing loss, which is typically the result of chronic noise exposure.

"Compared with people with normal high-frequency hearing, people with bilateral high-frequency hearing loss were approximately two times more likely to have coronary heart disease," Dr. Wen Qi Gan of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in Lexington, said by email.

Past research has already linked noise exposure, especially in workplaces, to coronary heart disease, hypertension, and other illnesses, Dr. Gan and his colleagues noted online September 15 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. But many of these studies lacked individual information about actual noise exposure, relying instead on average decibel levels in the person's environment.

High-frequency hearing loss, the researchers wrote, is a better indicator of exposure to loud noise over time. To investigate the connection with heart disease, the researchers looked at data on 5223 individuals, ages 20 to 69, who participated in national health surveys between 1999 and 2004.

Overall, people with bilateral high-frequency hearing loss were about twice as likely to have coronary heart disease compared to those with normal high-frequency hearing. Among those age 50 and under, who were also most likely to be exposed to loud noise at work, the heart disease risk was increased four-fold.

There was no link to heart disease among people with one-sided hearing loss or loss of lower-frequency hearing, the study team noted, further supporting the idea that noise exposure is the culprit.

The study only looked at people at one time point, however, and cannot prove that noise or hearing loss are direct causes of heart disease. The researchers also acknowledged that they relied on study participants' own recollections about their work and leisure-time noise exposure.

Nonetheless, Dr. Gan said, accumulating evidence suggests that exposure to loud noise can increase the risk of coronary heart disease

[Hidden]

I think your first explanation makes sense👍🏻. Rock on🙉

[Janma123]

A steady dominant rhythm can affect your heartbeat

A neighbour has a wind turbine and I have had to abandon gardening when the wind is in one direction as the turbine swoosh at some speeds affect my heart beat - it feels as if it is trying to beat at the same rate as the ‘swoosh’ as becomes quite uncomfortable.

Sounds daft I know!

[Hidden in reply to Janma123]

I've heard it all now, the things people will say to the council..........

[Janma123 in reply to Hidden]

I said it sounds daft!!!!

We have a turbine ourselves but are downwind of it so it has no effect!

[Hidden in reply to Janma123]

I am impressed. I presume you are in a relatively rural location? I would like the idea myself but I don't think the neighbours would.....

[bbthor]

I have been to a rock concert standing the bass was vibrating my stomach and chest felt really uncomfortable didn't realise at the time but l do suffer paroxysmal afib so maybe affected different as always for everyone l guess.

[judes6718]

I've got an mechanical heart valve and it sort of vibrates when listening to music with a load bass. However, it hasn't affected me in any way, it's just a weird feeling!

[Fazerboy]

I had svt before I had an ablation and I found that when cycling if I rode under overhead elec cables this could trigger my svt. Sounds crazy but it happened so often that I couldn’t find any other cause.

[BARTLETT1965]

Going back to my younger days when I helped mate do disco's I use to get pulpertation alot while the music was playing . It felt like the heart was in tune with the beat.

[dunestar]

I think anything can affect your heartbeat. I don't like anything with a regular beat because I always feel my heart might adopt the same rhythm. It's a psychological thing though I think rather than these things actually causing your heart to go funny.

[LaceyLady]

I do believe the vibrations can affect the heart rhythm. Music can invigorate or calm us, some gives me goose bumps or makes me cry. I’m a Complementary Therapist of 22 years and can use Tibetan bowls and Tongue drums for healing.

I’ve experienced Gong baths but not since my A Fib as I don’t know how I’ll feel and the gongs are huge!

[ILowe]

It is a long time since I studied this. From memory:

Sound is perceived through the ears, and is also 'felt' through the body. Low frequency sounds such as a diesel lorry can set the ground vibrating and feel very uncomfortable. Bass guitar, too loud, gets to me in my intestines. I wonder if resonant frequencies are involved? I have found that others also feel it, but they think of it as pleasant, whereas to me it is almost always unpleasant.

Whenever sound is perceived as unpleasant, there will be physiological effects.

When near loud music with high bass and high beat I have noticed my heart speeds up and irregularities increase and I fear a trigger for AF, which also increases the problem. Other people I think perceive such sound as soothing.

Some people are unusually sensitive to flicker/beat, be it visual or audio.

[Maisie2014]

A few months after my heart attack and stent fit I attended a relatives birthday party in a club. I’m used to these parties but I could not stay in. The loud singing and microphone sounds plus the vibrations from the music meant my chest was hurting a lot. I had to leave. I felt an old fuddy duddy but ten times better when I got out of there. Yet another limitation for me to get used to.

[TheMusicNerd in reply to Maisie2014]

Yes I know I'm a little late here, but here's my reply:).I'd like to know what "loud singing and microphone sounds" you were refering to when talking about that birthday party in a club. Was there a band playing with someone singing into the microphone in a way that made your chest hurt? Was there a karaoke session? Or was there some kind of talent show during the party where people sang into the mic?

I've occasionally felt the vibration from someone singing into a microphone, and it can happen especially with singers singing fairly low notes or if the singer happens to have a rather deep voice. I could understand how something like that (a singer singing rather low notes) could possibly make one's chest hurt. Could it be possible that was what you were experiencing?

Oh and one more question: did the singing actually sound any good? personally if I heard someone singing into a mic at a birthday party and they didn't sound that good, I would silently judge them

[Maisie2014 in reply to TheMusicNerd]

The music was very loud and as usual the DJ tweaks it a bit louder with every record. I felt the base particularly but was just about coping. When the male singer came on he was very good but his voice was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I had to get out of there. I haven’t been to any parties since and I used to love to dance.

[TheMusicNerd in reply to Maisie2014]

goodness... that must be disappointing:(I guess that's what happens when you get a stent. Thankfully I havn't had to experience that (and I hope I never will). Was the experience of these types of parties any different before you had the stent? Like did you experience that chest pain with the music or someone singing into a microphone?

[Maisie2014 in reply to TheMusicNerd]

I never felt anything before apart from the off “earache” from the loudness. Maybe that was just the age of my ears 😂

[TheMusicNerd in reply to Maisie2014]

Interesting. I guess it might've been something to do with the stent that made your chest hurt? I've never had a stent, so I guess I don't entirely understand how that would make one's chest hurt when the chest is vibrating in some way (in this case, with loud music and loud singing into a microphone). I've experienced musical vibrations in my chest, but not to the point where the vibrations actually gave me pain in my chest; that would have to be really, really loud music for that to happen! A buss driver of mine claimed that this happened to him; he was in the basement of his church for some kind of event with the youth, and he told me the bass of the music from the live band was so loud that the vibration in his chest actually hurt.

[dickielex]

For a moment I read this as an insult as I have sung as a Bass 2 in my local choral society for many years and my ICD has (so far) withstood the noise that I and by fellow 2nd Basses make without complaint. But tomorrow I am due to sing some Georgian music some of which demands some VERY bass noises and that might have a different result.

[Serena15 in reply to dickielex]

I’m so sorry if I offended you in any way! I come from a musical family and it was just a topic that came up during a discussion whilst waiting for a band to play last night! good luck for tomorrow I’m sure it will be amazing x

[dickielex in reply to Serena15]

No offense at all. When I read the post more carefully I saw the light. I should add that I endured 3 weeks of total deafness after standing too close a speaker at a Credence Clearwater Revival concert in the Albert Hall,

[Serena15]

Thanks for all the replies! I was just curious after talking with my parents as they have always been around loud music as I come from quite a musical family. My dad was in multiple bands and went on to make techno music and same with my brother who manages and photographs bands. x

[TheMusicNerd in reply to Serena15]

I like techno music:)You mentioned techno music which intrigued me

[LaceyLady]

I’m a Complementary Therapist, healer and Intuitive. I FEEL all the time, very sense orientated. Smells, touch, hearing, seeing. We as humans have been damped down from birth. Babies and small children are more in tune with the senses.

There are deaf people who sense music vibrations, wasn’t one of the famous composers deaf! Each person is an individual, feels their heart problem differently, different vibrations will be felt similarly.

[LaceyLady]

If the car window is open a certain amount, I can’t stand the boom 😳