Well now, as if Kama Muta wasn’t enough, we found something else – and this time the research includes your brain!

So it’s been a while since the last journal entry. A combination of demo room redecoration (finished!), audio shows (Switzerland and the final Munich event), and looking for excuses not to book a hearing test (still not done)….

Whilst all this was, or wasn’t, going on I found an interesting article on Frisson and thought it would be good to add some more depth to the Kama Muta post on music and emotional response.

The article featured in a publication called ‘Tech fixated’ on the 18th April this year. I couldn’t find an author to reference so to save re-typing using different words I will cut and paste directly from the article – in italics. You can find the original article via your preferred search engine.

The article suggests that the music you listen to literally impacts your brain. So that in itself peaked my interest and they also include some neuroscience to back up the claim – happy days.

So what is this Frisson malarkey?

The sensation, known as ‘Frisson’, isn’t just a random occurrence . It’s a measurable neurological response that reveals how deeply music can affect our brains on a biological level.

Recent neuroscience research has uncovered that when we experience musical ‘chills’, our brains release dopamine through the same reward pathways activated by food, sex, and certain drugs.

Why Frisson?

Frisson – French for ‘shiver’ – is a physical and emotional response triggered by musical elements, and its deeply connected to how our brains process sound. The phenomenon typically manifests as a pleasurable chill that runs down your spine, sometimes accompanied by goosebumps or that ‘lump in your throat’ feeling.

This response involves an intricate neural network. The auditory cortex first analyses the musics’ structure and patterns. The anterior insula then links these sounds to emotional reactions. Finally the medical prefrontal cortex connects the music to our personal memories and experiences.

Dr. Valorie Salimpoor, whose research at the Montreal Neurological Institute has been instrumental in understanding musical frisson, discovered that these different brain regions communicate differently in people who regularly experience musical chills compared to those who don’t.

So is it the same for everyone?

The brain’s response to music isn’t uniform across all people. Personality factors significantly influence who gets chills from music. Those people that score high on the ‘openness to experience’ trait are more likely to experience musical frisson.

Not everyone experience music the same way. While approximately 55-86% of people report experiencing musical chills at some point, the frequency and intensity vary dramatically between individuals.

Personal history significantly influences which specific songs or musical passages trigger frisson. Music connected to significant life events creates stronger emotional responses. A melody associated with an important memory activates both the brain’s auditory processing regions and its autobiographical memory centres, creating a powerful neural cocktail.

So there we have it, or not as the case may be. Not everyone will be affected by frisson, some say about 2% of people get the full experience, and it’s directly related to your life experiences and how you process those emotions.

I would add to that ideology by suggesting that not all audio equipment reproduces sound in a way to influence frisson. Certainly from working at audio shows it’s obvious that the music affects people in different ways. Some well up with emotion and others just move from room to room – assessing the technicalities perhaps.

Whether you are part of the 2% collective, skimmed, or full fat, the science is there to provide some sense to both your auditory experience and the overly used claims that a product is designed for ‘maximal emotional response’

Maybe it’s time to experience some frisson when you consider your next purchase – only you can tell…