An emotional speech relies on pauses to convey a powerful message. A movie scene uses silence to amplify your focus on the screen. Therapy sessions benefit from moments of silence to enhance deeper self-awareness from patients.

We are detecting silence one way or another.

And it feels like the absence of sound is also a sound.

Sometimes silence becomes paradoxically so intense that it feels loud. Like a candle casting darkness out, silence can instantly fill a room with tension. The feeling can be overwhelming, almost unbearable.

Although silence has been an ongoing philosophical question for centuries (see Clement of Alexandria, Plato, Kierkegaard), and an inspiration for artists (see Simon & Garfunkel, John Cage, Marina Abramović), now psychologists took this idea to the lab to study it more closely.

Nothingness can be heard and here’s how.

The silence experiment

Researchers from the University of John Hopkins recently published a study to test whether silence is actually perceived as a sound or just inferred. Are we able to literally hear silence or do we fill a void with our interpretations based on the context and cues surrounding it?

To test the idea of whether silence itself produces any audible sound or noise, scientists used auditory illusions to find how we experience silence. If we do treat silence as we treat sound, silence would be able to trick our brains into perceiving time differently, just like certain sounds can.

They tested this by exposing participants to background noise that was occasionally interrupted by moments of silence. They played sounds of busy places like restaurants, markets, trains, or playgrounds, and inserted periods of silence for participants to compare.

If people consider silence as a type of sound, then silence should be susceptible to the same illusion as actual sounds. This means that a longer period of silence should be perceived as lasting longer than the combined duration of two shorter walls of silence. However, if people view silence as the absence of sound, the illusion might not occur.

It’s not enough to describe the experiment. You should hear it.

The silent periods were exactly the same length, but the illusion makes us perceive that one silent moment was longer than two.

In all the experiments they conducted, people consistently experienced the same illusion of silence as they would have with sounds. They perceived a period of silence as lasting longer, just like they would perceive a longer sound. Thus, people react as though they’re hearing silence.

That gap, pause, or blank moment is perceived as a unit in our experience. We can detect the absence of sound. Simon & Garfunkel were right, we do hear the sound of silence.

Vipassana, a step closer to hearing silence

Years ago I went to a retreat in the mountains for 10 days in complete silence.

The schedule was intense. We had to wake up at 4 am, go through a series of meditation sessions throughout the day, eat light vegetarian food, and above all keep what was called a noble silence throughout the whole experience. We couldn’t communicate with others, meet each other’s gaze, or even write or read.

We were all by ourselves.

This is a Buddhist tradition that prepares you for a meditation technique called Vipassana. By creating this environment, we can dive deep into our mindful practice and find insights by observing the sensations and experiences of the present moment. Without silence, we wouldn’t be able to cultivate the inner focus required to become aware of our bodies, minds, and the passing of time.

Silence permeated every aspect of the retreat, allowing me to gradually attune to its presence. As I paid closer attention, I unexpectedly began to hear it. The pauses between thoughts grew longer, movements became slower, and my focus shifted away from the past and future.

Paradoxically, these sensations became more pronounced once I stepped into society again. When my car buddies left me at the bus station to go back home, the surrounding noise felt distant from my inner self. I remained untouched by the fast-paced world around me. I was at the eye of the hurricane, where all is calm and unaware of the craziness outside.

I had found the silence within.

But it fades away with time. Life happens and silence is lost. But for a while, I could hear and embrace it. And it felt like nothing I’d experienced before.

While this may be an extreme example of encountering the sound of silence (but came with other amazing byproducts), it serves as a transformative tool for heightened sensitivity that many of us may not typically experience. For those without the time to cultivate this awareness, we’ll have to stick to auditory illusions.

Takeaway

Deafening silence takes a new meaning.

Researchers found that silence is not a cognitive experience (we infer it) but instead, it’s perceptual (we hear it). We hear something that is not sound: the sound audio makes when it disappears.

Maybe the power to convey a sense of discomfort, anticipation, unease, or the weight of unspoken words is what we’re hearing. Or, if cultivated through the Vipassana practice, silence becomes part of us as we find that stillness and clarity within the silence of our own being.

In any case, silence is there to be found as an all-encompassing sound in our minds and hearts.