Althought it might not be deafening, scientists have discovered that silence can be heard after all.
Using auditory illusions, researchers found how moments of silence distort people’s perception of time.
Solving a mystery over which philosophers have puzzled for centuries, the findings address the debate of whether people can hear more than sounds, including silence.
“We typically think of our sense of hearing as being concerned with sounds," said lead author Rui Zhe Goh, a Johns Hopkins University graduate student in philosophy and psychology.
“But silence, whatever it is, is not a sound – it’s the absence of sound.
“Surprisingly, what our work suggests is that nothing is also something you can hear.”
In auditory illusions, the brain thinks it can hear something that is either not there or exists in a different form to how it is perceived.
Like optical illusions that trick what people see, auditory illusions can make people hear periods of time as being longer or shorter than they actually are.
One example is known as the one-is-more illusion, where one long beep seems longer than two short consecutive beeps even when the two sequences are equally long.
In tests involving almost 1,000 people, the researchers swapped the sounds in the one-is-more illusion with moments of silence.
They found the same results – people thought one long moment of silence was longer than two short moments of silence.
Other silence illusions yielded the same outcomes as sound illusions, the study found.
In the study, researchers adapted well-known auditory illusions to create versions in which the sounds of the original illusions were replaced by moments of silence.
For example, one illusion made a sound seem much longer than it really was.
In the team’s new silence-based illusion, an equivalent moment of silence also seemed longer than it was.
According to the research, these silence-based illusions produced the same results as the sound-based ones, suggesting people hear silence just as they hear sounds.
“Philosophers have long debated whether silence is something we can literally perceive, but there hasn’t been a scientific study aimed directly at this question," said Chaz Firestone, an assistant professor in the US who directs the Johns Hopkins Perception and Mind Laboratory.
“Our approach was to ask whether our brains treat silences the way they treat sounds.
"If you can get the same illusions with silences as you get with sounds, then that may be evidence that we literally hear silence after all.”
People in the study were asked to listen to soundscapes that simulated the din of busy restaurants, markets and train stations.
They then listened for periods within those audio tracks when all sound stopped abruptly, creating brief silences.
The idea was not simply that these silences made people experience illusions, it was that the same illusions scientists thought could only be caused by sounds worked just as well when the sounds were replaced by silences.
“There’s at least one thing that we hear that isn’t a sound, and that’s the silence that happens when sounds go away," said co-author Ian Phillips, a Bloomberg distinguished professor of philosophy and psychological and brain sciences.
“The kinds of illusions and effects that look like they are unique to the auditory processing of a sound, we also get them with silences, suggesting we really do hear absences of sound too.”
The researchers say the findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, establish a new way to study the perception of absence.
Results
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2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: AF Sahwa, Nathan Crosse, Mohamed Ramadan.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: AF Thobor, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mezmar, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
4pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup presented by Longines (TB) Dh 200,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Galvanize, Nathan Cross, Doug Watson.
4.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Ajaj, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mohamed Daggash.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
THE SPECS
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Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
The specs: 2018 Kia Picanto
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Transmission: Four-speed auto
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.0L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
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Dunki
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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CREW
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
The%20specs%20
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AIDA%20RETURNS
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At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The%20specs
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
GROUPS
Group Gustavo Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (x1)
Alexander Zverev (x3)
Marin Cilic (x5)
John Isner (x8)
Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (x2)
Kevin Anderson (x4)
Dominic Thiem (x6)
Kei Nishikori (x7)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
HAJJAN
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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