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Preventing falls in elderly with noise

by Medindia Content Team on Jul 7 2005 1:04 PM

A new study by the researchers of University of British Columbia had showed that noise might be not a hindrance but a help to our concentration and efficiency, more so when that is effectively used to help the older people maintain their balance.

Noise is often thought as the one sensation that comes in our way of concentration on subjects we want to concentrate upon. Noise is often related to the disturbances that cause distractions in hearing something. But sensory noise may not be limited to hearing only. Noise may be present in all other senses of smell, vision, touch etc., it being the disturbance that affects our focusing to the main sensation.

According to the current research, tactile noise may increase our ability to concentrate on weak touch sensations that in other circumstances, we would have neglected to attend to. Tactile sensations that are usually below our threshold of sensations becomes something we can attend to once there is the element of tactile noise introduced in the scenario. Researchers however note, that the noise have to just right, so that it can make us aware of the sensations which we otherwise wouldn’t be noticing.

Researchers feel that their findings can be used to make the elderly people more sensitive to change of balance that can make them lose their footing and fall to risk an injury.

Reference: Psychological Science, July 2005


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