Human nonspecific response to sound stimulation

Basic physiological responses were studied in healthy adult men exposed to various types of sound stimulation (white noise, pure tones, infrasound). The reaction of the cardio-vascular system to noise turned out to be nonuniform. Changes were observed in the patterns of standard electrocardiograms as well as spatial ballistocardiograms and dynamocardiograms. The magnitude of heart rate responses in the initial stage of stimulation showed a clearcut dependence on the level of noise load. In the first phase of adaptation distinct examinee-to-examinee variations were observed in the time to heart rate normalization, depending on the pattern of personality characteristics. Similar variations were also manifested in biochemical responses as well as in the patterns of EEG.