Essentials: How Hearing & Balance Enhance Focus & Learning

The auditory system, meaning the hearing system, and your balance system, which is called the vestibular system, interact with all the other systems of the brain and body and, used properly, can allow you to learn information more quickly, remember that information longer and with more ease, and you can also improve the way you can hear.

听觉系统（即听觉系统）和平衡系统（称为前庭系统）与大脑和身体的所有其他系统相互作用，如果使用得当，可以让您更快地学习信息，更长时间、更轻松地记住信息，并且还可以改善您的听力。

You can improve your balance.

你可以改善你的平衡能力。

We're going to talk about tools for all of that.

我们将讨论所有这些的工具。

Can you hear me?

你能听到我吗？

Can you hear me?

你能听到我吗？

OK, well, if you can hear me, that's amazing because what it means is that my voice is causing little tiny changes in the airwaves wherever you happen to be and that your ears and whatever's contained in those ears and in your brain can take those sound waves and make sense of them.

好吧，好吧，如果你能听到我说话，那就太棒了，因为这意味着无论你身在何处，我的声音都会在电波中引起微小的变化，并且你的耳朵以及耳朵和大脑中包含的任何东西都可以接收这些声波并理解它们。

And that is an absolutely fantastic and staggering feat of biology.

这绝对是生物学上一项奇妙而惊人的壮举。

And yet we understand a lot about how that process works.

然而我们非常了解这个过程是如何运作的。

So what we call ears have a technical name.

所以我们所说的耳朵有一个专业名称。

That technical name is oracles, but more often they're called pinna, the pinnas, P-I-N-N-A, pinna.

这个技术名称是 oracle，但更常见的是它们被称为 pinna、the pinnas、P-I-N-N-A、pinna。

And the pinnas of your ears, this outer part that is made of cartilage and stuff, is arranged such that it can capture sound in the best way for your head size.

耳朵的耳廓是由软骨和其他物质组成的外部部分，其排列方式可以根据您的头部尺寸以最佳方式捕捉声音。

So the shape of these ears that we have is such that it amplifies high-frequency sounds.

因此，我们耳朵的形状可以放大高频声音。

High-frequency sounds, as the name suggests, is the squeakier stuff.

顾名思义，高频声音是比较刺耳的声音。

So we have low-frequency sounds and high-frequency sounds and everything in between.

所以我们有低频声音和高频声音以及介于两者之间的一切。

And those sound waves, for those of you that don't maybe fully conceptualize sound waves, are literally just fluctuations or shifts in the way that air is moving toward your ear and through space.

对于那些可能没有完全概念化声波的人来说，这些声波实际上只是空气流向您的耳朵和穿过空间的方式的波动或变化。

In the same way that water can have waves, the air can have waves.

就像水可以有波浪一样，空气也可以有波浪。

So it's reverberation of air.

所以这是空气的回响。

Those come in through your ears, and you have what's called your eardrum.

这些声音通过你的耳朵进入，你有所谓的耳膜。

And on the inside of your eardrum, there's a little bony thing that's shaped like a little hammer.

在你的耳膜内侧，有一个形状像小锤子的小骨头。

So attached to that eardrum, which can move back and forth like a drum-- it's like a little membrane-- you've got this hammer attached to it.

如此附着在耳膜上，它可以像鼓一样来回移动 - 它就像一个小膜 - 你已经将这个锤子附着在它上面。

And that hammer has three parts.

那把锤子由三部分组成。

For those of you that want to know, those three parts are called malleus, incus, and stapes.

对于那些想知道的人来说，这三个部分称为锤骨、砧骨和镫骨。

But basically, you can just think about it as a hammer.

但基本上，你可以把它想象成一把锤子。

So you've got this eardrum and then a hammer, and then that hammer has to hammer on something.

所以你有这个耳膜，然后有一个锤子，然后那个锤子必须敲击某些东西。

And what it does is it hammers on a little coiled piece of tissue that we call the cochlea.

它的作用是敲击一小块卷曲的组织，我们称之为耳蜗。

So this snail-shaped structure in your inner ear is where sound gets converted into electrical signals that the brain can understand.

因此，内耳中的蜗牛状结构是将声音转换为大脑可以理解的电信号的地方。

Now, the cochlea at one end is more rigid than the other.

现在，一端的耳蜗比另一端更坚硬。

So one part can move really easily, and the other part doesn't move very easily.

所以一个部分可以很容易地移动，而另一部分则不太容易移动。

And that turns out to be very important for decoding or separating sounds that are of low frequency and sounds that are of high frequency, like a shriek or a shrill.

事实证明，这对于解码或分离低频声音和高频声音（例如尖叫声或尖叫声）非常重要。

And that's because within that little coiled thing we call the cochlea, you have all these tiny little what are called hair cells.

那是因为在我们称为耳蜗的那个小卷曲的东西里，有所有这些微小的东西，称为毛细胞。

Now, they look like hairs, but they're not at all related to the hairs on your head or elsewhere on your body.

现在，它们看起来像头发，但它们与你头上或身体其他地方的头发完全没有关系。

They're just shaped like hairs, so we call them hair cells.

它们的形状像头发，所以我们称它们为毛细胞。

Those hair cells, if they move, send signals into the brain that a particular sound is in our environment.

这些毛细胞如果移动，就会向大脑发送信号，表明我们的环境中有特定的声音。

Now, this should stagger your mind.

现在，这应该会让你大吃一惊。

If it doesn't already, it should because what this means is that everything that's happening around us, whether or not it's music or voices, all of that is being broken down into its component parts, and then your brain is making sense of what it means.

如果还没有，那也应该是，因为这意味着我们周围发生的一切，无论是音乐还是声音，所有这些都被分解成其组成部分，然后你的大脑正在理解它的含义。

Your cochlea essentially acts as a prism.

您的耳蜗本质上充当棱镜。

It takes all the sound in your environment, and it splits up those sounds into different frequencies.

它获取环境中的所有声音，并将这些声音分解为不同的频率。

And then the brain takes that information and puts it back together and makes sense of it.

然后大脑获取这些信息并将其重新组合起来并理解它。

So those hair cells in each of your two cochlea-- because you have two ears, you also have two cochlea-- send little wires, what we call axons, that convey their patterns of activity into the brain.

因此，你的两个耳蜗中的毛细胞——因为你有两只耳朵，所以你也有两个耳蜗——发送小电线，我们称之为轴突，将它们的活动模式传达到大脑中。

And there are a number of different stations within the brain that information arrives at before it gets up to the parts of your brain where you are consciously aware.

信息在到达大脑中有意识的部分之前会先到达大脑中的许多不同站点。

And there is a good reason for that, which is that more important than knowing what you're hearing, you need to know where it's coming from.

这是有充分理由的，那就是比知道你所听到的内容更重要，你需要知道它来自哪里。

And our visual system can help with that.

我们的视觉系统可以帮助解决这个问题。

But our auditory and our visual system collaborate to help us find and locate the position of things in space.

但我们的听觉和视觉系统协作帮助我们找到并定位物体在空间中的位置。

That should come as no surprise.

这应该不足为奇。

If you hear somebody talking off to your right, you tend to turn to your right, not to your left.

如果你听到有人在你右边说话，你往往会转向右边，而不是左边。

If you see somebody's mouth moving in front of you, you tend to assume that the sound is going to come from right in front of you.

如果您看到某人的嘴在您面前移动，您往往会认为声音将来自您的正前方。

Disruptions in this auditory, hearing, and visual matching are actually the basis of what's called the ventriloquism effect.

这种听觉、听觉和视觉匹配的破坏实际上是所谓的腹语效应的基础。

The ventriloquism effect can basically be described in simple terms as when you essentially think that a sound is coming from a location that it's not actually coming from.

腹语效应基本上可以用简单的术语来描述，即当你本质上认为声音来自一个它实际上并非来自的位置时。

The way you know where things are coming from, what direction a car or a bus or a person is coming from, is because the sound lands in one ear before the other.

你知道事物从哪里来、汽车、公共汽车或人从哪个方向来的方式是因为声音先到达另一只耳朵。

And you have stations in your brain, meaning you have neurons in your brain, that calculate the difference in time of arrival for those sound waves in your right versus your left ear.

你的大脑中有一些站，这意味着你的大脑中有神经元，可以计算声波到达你的右耳和左耳的时间差异。

And if they arrive at the same time, you assume that thing is making noise right in front of you.

如果它们同时到达，你就会认为那个东西就在你面前发出噪音。

If it's off to your right, you assume it's over on your right.

如果它在你的右边，你就认为它在你的右边结束。

And if the sound arrives first to your left ear, you assume quite correctly that the thing is coming toward your left ear.

如果声音首先到达您的左耳，您就可以正确地假设该声音是向您的左耳传来的。

But what about up and down?

但是上和下呢？

If you think about it, a sound coming from above is going to land on your right ear and your left ear at the same time.

如果你想一想，从上面传来的声音会同时落在你的右耳和左耳上。

A sound from below is going to land on your right ear and your left ear at the same time.

来自下方的声音将同时落在您的右耳和左耳上。

So the way that we know where things are in terms of what's called elevation, where they are in the up and down plane, is by the frequencies.

因此，我们通过频率来了解事物的高度，即它们在上下平面中的位置。

The shape of your ears actually modifies the sound depending on whether or it's coming straight at you from the floor or from high above.

您耳朵的形状实际上会改变声音，具体取决于声音是从地板还是从高处直接向您传来。

Now, this all happens very, very fast, and it's subconscious.

现在，这一切发生得非常非常快，而且是潜意识的。

But now you know why if people really want to hear something, they make a cup around their ear.

但现在你知道为什么如果人们真的想听一些东西，他们就会在耳朵周围做一个杯子。

They essentially make their ear into more of a fennec fox type ear.

他们本质上使自己的耳朵更像耳廓狐类型的耳朵。

If you've ever seen those cute little fennec fox things, they have these big spiky ears.

如果你见过那些可爱的小耳廓狐，它们有大大的尖耳朵。

They look like a French bulldog, although they're the fox version of the French bulldog.

它们看起来像法国斗牛犬，尽管它们是法国斗牛犬的狐狸版本。

These big, tall ears, and they have excellent sound localization.

这些又大又高的耳朵，它们具有出色的声音定位能力。

And so when people lean in with their ear like this-- with their hand like this-- if you're listening to this, I'm just cupping my hand at my ear-- I'm giving myself a bigger pinna.

因此，当人们像这样靠着耳朵，像这样用手靠近时，如果你正在听这个，我只是把手放在耳朵上，我给自己一个更大的耳廓。

Again, if I do it on the left side, I can do this side.

再说一次，如果我在左侧做，我也可以做这一侧。

And if I really want to hear something, I do it on both sides.

如果我真的想听点什么，我会从两边都听。

So this isn't just gesturing.

所以这不仅仅是手势。

This actually serves a mechanical role.

这实际上起到了机械作用。

And actually, if you want to hear where things are coming from with a much greater degree of accuracy, this can actually help because you're capturing sound waves and funneling them better.

实际上，如果您想以更高的准确度听到事物的来源，这实际上会有所帮助，因为您可以捕获声波并更好地引导它们。

So now I want to shift to talking about ways to leverage your hearing system, your auditory system, so that you can learn anything, not just auditory information, but anything faster.

所以现在我想谈谈如何利用你的听力系统，你的听觉系统，这样你就可以学习任何东西，不仅仅是听觉信息，而是更快地学习任何东西。

I get a lot of questions about so-called binaural beats.

我收到很多关于所谓双耳节拍的问题。

Binaural beats, as their name suggests, involve playing one frequency of sound to one ear and a different frequency of sound to the other ear.

双耳节拍，顾名思义，就是向一只耳朵播放一种频率的声音，向另一只耳朵播放不同频率的声音。

And the idea is that the brain will take those two frequencies of sound.

这个想法是大脑将接收这两种声音频率。

And because the pathways that bring information from the ears into the brain eventually cross over-- they actually share that information with both sides of the brain-- that the brain will average that information and come up with a sort of intermediate frequency.

由于将信息从耳朵带入大脑的路径最终会交叉（它们实际上与大脑的两侧共享该信息），因此大脑会对这些信息进行平均并得出某种中频。

And the rationale is that those intermediate frequencies place the brain into a state that is better for learning.

其基本原理是，这些中频使大脑进入更适合学习的状态。

And when I say better for learning, I want to be precise about what I mean.

当我说更好的学习时，我想准确表达我的意思。

That could mean more focus for encoding or bringing the information in.

这可能意味着更多地关注编码或引入信息。

As you may have heard me say before, we have to be alert and focused in order to learn.

正如您之前可能听我说过的那样，我们必须保持警惕和专注才能学习。

So can binaural beats make us more focused?

那么双耳节拍能让我们更加专注吗？

Can binaural beats allow us to relax more if we're anxious?

如果我们感到焦虑，双耳节拍能让我们更加放松吗？

So what does the scientific data say about binaural beats?

那么关于双耳节拍的科学数据是怎样的呢？

The science on binaural beats is actually quite extensive and very precise.

双耳节拍的科学实际上相当广泛且非常精确。

So sound waves are measured typically in hertz or kilohertz.

因此，声波通常以赫兹或千赫兹为单位进行测量。

I know many of you aren't familiar with thinking about things in hertz or kilohertz, but again, just remember those waves on a pond, those ripples on a pond.

我知道你们中的许多人不熟悉以赫兹或千赫兹为单位思考事物，但再次记住池塘上的那些波浪，池塘上的那些涟漪。

If they're close together, then they are of high frequency.

如果它们靠得很近，那么它们的频率就很高。

And if they're far apart, then they are of low frequency.

如果它们相距很远，那么它们的频率就很低。

So if it's many more kilohertz, then it's much higher frequency than if it's fewer hertz or kilohertz.

因此，如果千赫兹更多，那么它的频率就会比赫兹或千赫兹更少的频率高得多。

And so you may have heard of these things as delta waves or theta waves or alpha waves or beta waves, et cetera.

因此，您可能听说过 δ 波、θ 波、α 波或 β 波等。

Delta waves would be big, slow waves, so low frequency.

德尔塔波是大而慢的波，频率很低。

And indeed there is quality evidence from peer-reviewed studies that tell us that delta waves like 1 to 4 hertz, so very low frequency sounds, can help in the transition to sleep and for staying asleep, and that theta rhythms, which are more like 4 to 8 hertz, can bring the brain into a state of subtle sleep or meditation, so deeply relaxed but not fully asleep.

事实上，来自同行评审研究的高质量证据告诉我们，像 1 到 4 赫兹这样的 δ 波（频率非常低的声音）可以帮助过渡到睡眠和保持睡眠状态，而 θ 节律（更像是 4 到 8 赫兹）可以使大脑进入微妙的睡眠或冥想状态，从而深度放松但不是完全睡着。

And you'll find evidence that alpha waves, 8 to 13 hertz, can increase alertness to a moderate level-- that's a great state for the brain to be in for recall of existing information-- and that beta waves, 15 to 20 hertz, are great for bringing the brain into focus states for sustained thought or for incorporating new information.

您会发现证据表明，8 到 13 赫兹的 α 波可以将警觉性提高到中等水平，这是大脑回忆现有信息的最佳状态，而 15 到 20 赫兹的 β 波非常适合让大脑进入专注状态，以便持续思考或吸收新信息。

And especially gamma waves, the highest frequency, the most frequent ripples of sound, so to speak, 32 to 100 hertz, for learning and problem-solving.

尤其是伽马波，它是最高频率、最频繁的声音波纹，可以说是 32 到 100 赫兹，用于学习和解决问题。

Here, we're talking about the use of binaural beats in order to increase our level of alertness or our level of calmness.

在这里，我们讨论的是使用双耳节拍来提高我们的警觉程度或平静程度。

Now, that's important to underscore because it's not that there's something fundamentally important about the binaural beats.

现在，强调这一点很重要，因为双耳节拍并不是什么根本重要的东西。

They are yet another way of bringing the brain into states of deep relaxation through low-frequency sound or highly alert states for focused learning with more high-frequency sound.

它们是通过低频声音使大脑进入深度放松状态或通过高频声音进行高度警觉状态以进行集中学习的另一种方式。

They're effective, but it's not that they're uniquely special for learning.

它们很有效，但这并不是说它们专门用于学习。

It's just that they can help some people bring their brain into the state that allows them to learn better.

只是它们可以帮助一些人让他们的大脑进入可以让他们更好地学习的状态。

There's very good evidence for anxiety reduction from the use of binaural beats.

有充分的证据表明使用双耳节拍可以减少焦虑。

And what's interesting is the anxiety reduction seems to be most effective when the binaural beats are bringing the brain into delta-- so those slow, big waves like sleep-- theta, and alpha states.

有趣的是，当双耳节拍将大脑带入三角波（即那些缓慢的大波，如睡眠）、西塔和阿尔法状态时，减轻焦虑似乎是最有效的。

There's good evidence that binaural beats can be used to treat pain, chronic pain.

有充分的证据表明双耳节拍可用于治疗疼痛、慢性疼痛。

But the real boost from binaural beats appears to be for anxiety reduction and pain reduction.

但双耳节拍的真正作用似乎是减少焦虑和疼痛。

Many people like binaural beats and say that they benefit from them, especially while studying or learning.

许多人喜欢双耳节拍，并表示他们从中受益，尤其是在学习或学习时。

I think part of the reason for that relates to the ability to channel our focus when we have some background noise.

我认为部分原因与我们在有背景噪音时转移注意力的能力有关。

And this is something I also get asked about a lot.

这也是我经常被问到的问题。

Is it better to listen to music and have background noise when studying, or is it better to have complete silence?

学习时是听音乐且有背景噪音更好，还是完全安静更好？

Well, there's actually a quite good literature on this as well but not so much as it relates to binaural beats but rather whether or not people are listening to music, so-called white noise, brown noise.

嗯，实际上关于这个问题也有相当好的文献，但与其说它与双耳节拍有关，不如说它与人们是否在听音乐有关，即所谓的白噪声、棕色噪声。

Believe it or not, there's white noise, and there's brown noise.

不管你相信与否，有白噪声，也有棕色噪声。

There's even pink noise.

甚至还有粉红噪音。

I want to be very clear that white noise has been shown to really enhance brain states for learning in certain individuals, in particular in adults.

我想非常清楚地表明，白噪音已被证明确实可以增强某些人（尤其是成年人）的学习大脑状态。

But white noise actually can have a detrimental effect on auditory learning and maybe even the development of the auditory system in very young children, in particular in infants.

但白噪声实际上会对幼儿的听觉学习甚至听觉系统的发育产生不利影响，尤其是婴儿。

So first, I'd like to talk about the beneficial effects of white noise on learning.

首先，我想谈谈白噪音对学习的有益影响。

There are some really excellent studies on this.

这方面有一些非常出色的研究。

The first one that I'd like to just highlight is one that's entitled "Low-intensity white noise improves performance in auditory working memory task: An fMRI study." This is a study that explored whether or not learning could be enhanced by playing white noise in the background.

我想强调的第一个主题是“低强度白噪声提高听觉工作记忆任务的表现：功能磁共振成像研究”。这项研究探讨了是否可以通过在背景中播放白噪音来增强学习能力。

But the strength of the study is that they looked at some of the underlying neural circuitry and the activation of the neural circuitry in these people as they did the learning task.

但这项研究的优势在于，他们观察了这些人在完成学习任务时的一些潜在神经回路和神经回路的激活情况。

And what it essentially illustrates is that white noise, provided that white noise is of low enough intensity, meaning not super loud, it actually could enhance learning to a significant degree.

它本质上说明了白噪声，只要白噪声的强度足够低，也就是说声音不是很大，它实际上可以在很大程度上增强学习效果。

And this has been shown now for a huge number of different types of learning.

现在，这一点已经在大量不同类型的学习中得到了证明。

I was very relieved to find, or I should say excited to find, this study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

我很欣慰地发现，或者应该说很兴奋地发现这项研究发表在《认知神经科学杂志》上。

This is a 2014 paper.

这是2014年的论文。

"White noise improves learning by modulating activity in dopaminergic midbrain regions and the right superior temporal sulcus."

“白噪音通过调节多巴胺能中脑区域和右颞上沟的活动来改善学习。”

I don't expect you to know what the dopamine midbrain region is, but if you're like me, you probably took highlighted notice of the word "dopaminergic." Dopamine is a neuromodulator, meaning it's a chemical that's released in our brain and body, but mostly in our brain, that modulates, meaning controls, the likelihood that certain brain areas will be active and other brain areas won't be active.

我不希望你知道多巴胺中脑区域是什么，但如果你像我一样，你可能会注意到“多巴胺能”这个词。多巴胺是一种神经调节剂，这意味着它是一种在我们的大脑和身体中释放的化学物质，但主要是在我们的大脑中，它调节（即控制）某些大脑区域活跃而其他大脑区域不活跃的可能性。

And dopamine is associated with motivation.

多巴胺与动机有关。

Dopamine is associated with craving.

多巴胺与渴望有关。

But what's so interesting to me is that it appears that white noise itself can raise what we call the basal, the baseline levels of dopamine that are being released from this area, the substantia nigra.

但令我感兴趣的是，白噪声本身似乎可以提高我们所说的基础，即从该区域（黑质）释放的多巴胺的基线水平。

So now we're starting to get a more full picture of how particular sounds in our environment can increase learning, and that's in part, I believe, through the release of dopamine from substantia nigra.

所以现在我们开始更全面地了解环境中的特定声音如何促进学习，我相信这部分是通过黑质释放多巴胺来实现的。

So I'm not trying to shift you away from binaural beats if that's your thing, but it does appear that turning on white noise at a low level, but not too loud, can allow you to learn better because of the ways that it's modulating your brain chemistry.

因此，如果您喜欢双耳节拍，我并不是想让您远离双耳节拍，但打开低音量但不要太大声的白噪声确实可以让您学习得更好，因为它可以调节您的大脑化学物质。

So what about white noise and hearing loss in development?

那么白噪声和发育过程中的听力损失又如何呢？

I know a lot of people with children have these noise machines, sound waves, and things like that that help the kids sleep.

我知道很多有孩子的人都有这些噪音机、声波和类似的东西来帮助孩子睡觉。

And look, I think kids getting good sleep and parents getting good sleep is vital to physical and mental health and family health, so I certainly sympathize with those needs.

看，我认为孩子获得良好的睡眠和父母获得良好的睡眠对于身心健康和家庭健康至关重要，所以我当然同情这些需求。

However, there are data that indicate that white noise during development can be detrimental to the auditory system.

然而，有数据表明，发育过程中的白噪声可能对听觉系统有害。

I don't want to frighten any parents.

我不想吓到任何父母。

If you played white noise to your kids, this doesn't mean that their auditory system or their speech patterns are going to be disrupted or that their interpretation of speech is going to be disrupted forever.

如果您向孩子播放白噪音，这并不意味着他们的听觉系统或言语模式将被扰乱，或者他们对言语的解释将永远被扰乱。

But there are data published in the Journal Science some years ago showing that when they exposed very young animals to this white noise, it actually disrupted the maps of the auditory world within the brain.

但几年前《科学》杂志上发表的数据表明，当他们将年幼的动物暴露在这种白噪音中时，它实际上扰乱了大脑内听觉世界的地图。

So auditory information goes up into our cortex, into these-- essentially the outside portion of our brain that's responsible for all of our higher-level cognition, our planning, our decision-making, et cetera, creativity.

因此，听觉信息进入我们的皮层，进入这些区域——本质上是我们大脑的外部部分，负责我们所有的高级认知、我们的计划、我们的决策等等创造力。

And up there, we have what are called tonotopic maps.

在那里，我们有所谓的音调主题图。

What's a tonotopic map?

什么是音调主题图？

Well, remember the cochlea, how it's coiled, and at one end, it responds to high frequencies, and the other end, it responds to low frequencies, like a piano?

好吧，还记得耳蜗吗？它是如何盘绕的，一端对高频做出反应，另一端对低频作出反应，就像钢琴一样？

In the auditory system, we have what are called tonotopic maps, where frequency-- high frequency to low frequency and everything in between-- is organized in a very systematic way.

在听觉系统中，我们有所谓的音位图，其中频率（高频到低频以及介于两者之间的所有内容）以非常系统的方式组织。

Now, our experience of life from the time we're a baby until the time that we die is not systematic.

现在，我们从婴儿时期到死亡的生活经历并不是系统的。

We don't hear low frequencies at one part of the room or at one part of the day, and high frequencies in another part of the room and another part of the day.

我们在房间的某一部分或一天中的某一时间听不到低频，在房间的另一部分和一天中的另一部分听不到高频。

They're all intermixed.

他们都是混合的。

But if you remember, the cochlea separates them out.

但如果你还记得的话，耳蜗将它们分开。

Just like a prism of light separates out the different wavelengths of light, the cochlea separates out the different frequencies.

就像光棱镜分离出不同波长的光一样，耳蜗也分离出不同频率的光。

And the developing brain takes those separated-out frequencies and learns this relationship between itself, meaning the child, and the outside world.

发育中的大脑会吸收这些分离出来的频率，并学习自身（即孩子）与外部世界之间的关系。

White noise essentially contains no tonotopic information.

白噪声本质上不包含音调信息。

The frequencies are all intermixed.

频率都是混合的。

It's just noise.

这只是噪音。

So one of the reasons why hearing a lot of white noise during development for long periods of time can be detrimental to the development of the auditory system is that these tonotopic maps don't form normally.

因此，在发育过程中长时间听到大量白噪声可能不利于听觉系统发育的原因之一是这些音调图不能正常形成。

At least they don't in experimental animals.

至少在实验动物中没有。

Now, the reason I'm raising this is that many people I know, in particular friends who have small children, they say, I want to use a white noise machine while I sleep.

现在，我提出这个问题的原因是，我认识的很多人，特别是有小孩的朋友，他们说，我想在睡觉时使用白噪音机。

But is it OK for my baby to use a white noise machine?

但是我的宝宝可以使用白噪音机吗？

And I consulted with various people-- scientists about this, and they said, well, the baby is also hearing the parent's voices and is hearing music and is hearing the dog bark.

我就此问题咨询了不同的人——科学家，他们说，好吧，婴儿也听到了父母的声音，听到了音乐，听到了狗的叫声。

So it's not the only thing they're hearing.

所以这不是他们听到的唯一的事情。

However, every single person that I consulted with said, but there's neuroplasticity during sleep.

然而，我咨询过的每个人都说，睡眠期间存在神经可塑性。

That's when the kid is sleeping.

这时候孩子正在睡觉。

And I don't know that you'd want to expose a child to white noise the entire night because it might degrade that tonotopic map.

我不知道您是否愿意让孩子整晚​​暴露在白噪音中，因为这可能会降低音调主题图的质量。

It might not destroy it, it might not eliminate it, but it could make it a little less clear, like taking the keys on the piano and taping a few of them together.

它可能不会破坏它，也可能不会消除它，但它可能会让它变得不太清晰，就像把钢琴上的琴键用胶带粘在一起一样。

Once your auditory system has formed, once it's established these tonotopic maps, then the presence of background white noise should not be a problem at all.

一旦您的听觉系统形成，一旦建立了这些音调图，那么背景白噪声的存在根本就不应该成为问题。

In fact, it shouldn't be a problem at all because you're also not attending to it.

事实上，这根本不应该是一个问题，因为你也没有注意到它。

The idea is that it's playing at a low enough volume that you forget it in the background and that it's supporting learning by bringing your brain into a heightened state of alertness and especially this heightened state of dopamine-- dopaminergic activation of the brain, which will make it easier to learn faster and easier to learn the information.

这个想法是，它以足够低的音量播放，让你在后台忘记它，并且它通过使你的大脑进入高度警觉状态，特别是大脑的多巴胺激活状态来支持学习，这将使你更容易更快地学习信息。

So now I want to talk about auditory learning and actually how you can get better at learning information that you hear, not just information that you see on a page, or motor skill learning.

所以现在我想谈谈听觉学习，以及实际上如何更好地学习您听到的信息，而不仅仅是您在页面上看到的信息或运动技能学习。

So there's a phenomenon called the cocktail party effect.

所以有一种现象叫做鸡尾酒会效应。

Now, even if you've never been to a cocktail party, you've experienced and participated in what's called the cocktail party effect.

现在，即使您从未参加过鸡尾酒会，您也已经体验并参与了所谓的鸡尾酒会效应。

The cocktail party effect is where you are in an environment that's rich with sound, many sound waves coming from many different sources, many different things, so in a city, in a classroom, in a car that contains people having various conversations.

鸡尾酒会效应是指您处于一个充满声音的环境中，许多声波来自许多不同的来源、许多不同的事物，因此在城市中、在教室里、在汽车里，人们在进行各种对话。

You somehow need to be able to attend to specific components of those sound waves, meaning you need to hear certain people and not others.

您需要以某种方式关注这些声波的特定组成部分，这意味着您需要听到某些人的声音，而不是其他人的声音。

You and your brain are exquisitely good at creating a cone of auditory attention, a narrow band of attention with which you can extract the information you care about and wipe away or erase all the rest.

你和你的大脑非常擅长创造一个听觉注意力锥，一个狭窄的注意力带，你可以用它提取你关心的信息，并擦掉或擦除所有其余的信息。

Now, this takes work.

现在，这需要工作。

It takes attention.

这需要注意。

One of the reasons why you might come home from a loud gathering-- maybe a stadium, a sports event, or a cocktail party for that matter-- and feel just exhausted is because if you were listening to conversations there or trying to listen to those conversations while watching the game, it takes attentional effort, and the brain uses up a lot of energy just at rest, but it uses up even more energy when you are paying strong attention to something, literally caloric energy burning up things like glucose, et cetera.

你可能会从一场喧闹的聚会（可能是体育场、体育赛事或鸡尾酒会）回家后感到精疲力竭，原因之一是，如果你在听那里的对话或在观看比赛时试图听这些对话，那么你需要集中注意力，而大脑在休息时会消耗大量能量，但当你强烈关注某件事时，它会消耗更多的能量，实际上是燃烧葡萄糖等物质的热量。

Even if you're ketogenic, it's burning up energy.

即使你是生酮的，它也会消耗能量。

So the cocktail party effect has been studied extensively in the field of neuroscience, and we now know at a mechanistic level how one accomplishes this feat of attending to certain sounds despite the fact that we are being bombarded with all sorts of other sounds.

因此，鸡尾酒会效应在神经科学领域得到了广泛的研究，我们现在在机械层面上知道，尽管我们正受到各种其他声音的轰炸，但人们如何完成关注某些声音的这一壮举。

So there are a couple of ways that we do this.

因此，我们有几种方法可以做到这一点。

First of all, much as with our visual system, we can expand or contract our visual field of view.

首先，就像我们的视觉系统一样，我们可以扩大或缩小我们的视野。

We can do that.

我们可以做到。

We can expand and contract our visual field of view.

我们可以扩大和缩小我们的视野。

Well, we can expand and contract our auditory field of view, so to speak, or our auditory window.

好吧，我们可以扩大和缩小我们的听觉视野，或者说我们的听觉窗口。

We can really hear one person or a small number of people amidst a huge background of chatter because we pay attention to the onset of words but also to the offset of words.

我们确实可以在巨大的聊天背景中听到一个人或一小部分人的声音，因为我们既注意单词的开始，也注意单词的偏移。

So one of the more common phenomena that I think we all experience is you go to a party, and/or you meet somebody new, and you say hi.

因此，我认为我们都经历过的最常见现象之一是你去参加聚会，和/或你遇到了新朋友，然后你打招呼。

I would say, hi, I'm Andrew, and they'd say, hi, I'm Jeff, for instance.

例如，我会说，嗨，我是安德鲁，他们会说，嗨，我是杰夫。

Great to meet you.

很高兴认识你。

And then a minute later, I can't remember the guy's name.

一分钟后，我记不起那个人的名字了。

Now, is it because I don't care what his name is?

现在，是因为我不在乎他叫什么名字吗？

No. Somehow the presence of other auditory information interfered.

不。不知何故，其他听觉信息的存在产生了干扰。

It's not that my mind was necessarily someplace else.

这并不是说我的心思一定在别处。

It's that the signal to noise, as we say, wasn't high enough.

正如我们所说，这是信噪比不够高。

Somehow the way he said it or the way it landed on my ears, which is really all that matters when it comes down to learning, is such that it just didn't achieve high enough signal to noise.

不知何故，他说话的方式或它落在我耳朵里的方式（这对于学习来说确实是最重要的）就是它没有达到足够高的信噪比。

So the next time you ask somebody's name, remember, listen to the onset of what they say and the offset.

因此，下次当你问某人的名字时，请记住，听听他们所说的话的开始和结束。

So it would be paying attention to the "juh" in "Jeff," and it would be paying attention to that "fff" in F-- in "Jeff," excuse me.

因此，它会关注“Jeff”中的“juh”，并且会关注“Jeff”中 F 中的“fff”，请原谅。

All right?

好的？

And chances are you'll be able to remember that name.

您很可能能够记住这个名字。

Now, I do acknowledge that trying to learn every word in a sentence by paying attention to its onset and offset could actually be disruptive to the learning process.

现在，我确实承认，试图通过关注句子中的每个单词的起始和偏移来学习它实际上可能会破坏学习过程。

So this would be more for specific attention.

所以这会更需要特别注意。

Using the attentional system, we can actually learn much faster, and we can actually activate neuroplasticity in the adult brain, something that's very challenging to do, and that the auditory system is one of the main ways in which we can access neuroplasticity more broadly.

使用注意力系统，我们实际上可以更快地学习，并且我们实际上可以激活成人大脑中的神经可塑性，这是非常具有挑战性的事情，而听觉系统是我们更广泛地获得神经可塑性的主要方式之一。

I'd like to now talk about balance and our sense of balance, which is controlled by, believe it or not, our ears and things in our ears, as well as by our brain and elements of our spinal cord.

我现在想谈谈平衡和我们的平衡感，无论你相信与否，平衡感是由我们的耳朵和耳朵里的东西以及我们的大脑和脊髓元件控制的。

The reason why we're talking about balance and how to get better at balancing in the episode about hearing is that all the goodies that are going to allow you to do that are in your ears.

我们之所以在有关听力的一集中讨论平衡以及如何更好地保持平衡，是因为所有能让您做到这一点的好东西都在您的耳朵里。

They're also in your brain, but they're mostly in your ears.

它们也存在于您的大脑中，但主要存在于您的耳朵中。

So as you recall from the beginning of this episode, you have two cochleas that are-- one on each side of your head.

正如您从本集一开始所回忆的那样，您有两个耳蜗——头部两侧各一个。

And that's a little spiral snail-shaped thing that converts sound waves into electrical signals that the rest of your brain can understand.

这是一个螺旋形的小蜗牛形状的东西，可以将声波转换成大脑其他部分可以理解的电信号。

Right next to those, you have what are called semicircular canals.

在这些旁边，有所谓的半规管。

The semicircular canals can be best visualized as thinking about three hula hoops with marbles in them.

半规管可以最好地形象化为三个装有弹珠的呼啦圈。

So imagine that you have a hula hoop, and it's not filled with marbles all the way around.

想象一下，你有一个呼拉圈，但它的周围并没有装满弹珠。

It's just got some marbles down there at the base.

底部只是有一些弹珠。

So if you were to move that hula hoop around, one of those hula hoops is positioned vertically with respect to gravity.

因此，如果您要移动呼啦圈，其中一个呼啦圈会相对于重力垂直放置。

But basically, it's upright.

但基本上，它是直立的。

Another one of those hula hoops is basically at a 90-degree angle, basically parallel to the floor if you're standing up right now if you're seated.

另外一个呼拉圈基本上呈 90 度角，如果你现在站起来，如果你坐着，基本上与地板平行。

And the other one is tilted about 45 degrees in between those.

另一个则在两者之间倾斜约 45 度。

Now, why is this system there?

现在，为什么会有这个系统？

Well, those marbles within each one of those hula hoops can move around, but they'll only move around if your head moves in a particular way.

嗯，每个呼啦圈内的弹珠都可以移动，但只有当你的头部以特定方式移动时，它们才会移动。

And there are three planes or three ways that your head can move.

您的头部可以通过三个平面或三种方式移动。

Your head can move up and down like I'm nodding right now.

你的头可以上下移动，就像我现在点头一样。

So that's called pitch.

这就是所谓的音高。

Or I can shake my head, no, side to side.

或者我可以摇头，不，左右摇头。

That's called yaw.

这就是所谓的偏航。

And then there's roll-- tilting the head from side to side the way that a cute puppy might look at you from side to side.

然后是滚动——将头从一侧倾斜到另一侧，就像一只可爱的小狗从一侧到另一侧看着你一样。

Pitch, yaw, and roll are the movements of the head in each of the three major planes of motion, as we say, and each one of those causes those marbles to move in one or two of the various hula hoops.

正如我们所说，俯仰、偏航和滚动是头部在三个主要运动平面中的每一个运动，其中每一个都会导致这些弹珠在各种呼啦圈中的一个或两个中移动。

They aren't actually marbles, by the way.

顺便说一句，它们实际上并不是弹珠。

These are little stones, basically, little calcium-like deposits.

这些都是小石头，基本上是一些类似钙的沉积物。

And when they roll back and forth, they deflect little hairs, little hair cells that aren't like the hair cells that we use for measuring sound waves, but they're basically rolling past these little hair cells and causing them to deflect.

当它们来回滚动时，它们会使小毛发、小毛细胞偏转，这些毛细胞与我们用于测量声波的毛细胞不同，但它们基本上是滚动经过这些小毛细胞并导致它们偏转。

And when they deflect downward, the neurons, because hair cells are neurons, send information up to the brain.

当它们向下偏转时，神经元（因为毛细胞就是神经元）会将信息向上发送到大脑。

So if I move my head like this, there's a physical movement of these little stones in this hula hoop, as I'm referring to it, but they deflect these hairs, send those hairs, which are neurons-- those hair cells send information off to the brain.

因此，如果我像这样移动头部，呼啦圈中的这些小石头就会发生物理运动，正如我所说，但它们会偏转这些毛发，发送这些毛发，这些毛发是神经元——这些毛细胞将信息发送到大脑。

Any animal that has a jaw has this so-called balance system, which we call the vestibular system.

任何有下巴的动物都有这种所谓的平衡系统，我们称之为前庭系统。

One of the more important things to know about the vestibular, the balance system, is that it works together with the visual system.

关于前庭平衡系统，需要了解的更重要的事情之一是它与视觉系统一起工作。

Let's say I hear something off to my left, and I swing my head over to the left to see what it is.

假设我听到左边有什么声音，我就把头转向左边看看是什么。

There are two sources of information about where my head is relative to my body, and I need to know that.

关于我的头部相对于身体的位置有两个信息来源，我需要知道这一点。

First of all, when I quickly move my head to the side, those little stones, as I'm referring to them, they quickly activate those hair cells in that one semicircular canal and send a signal off to my brain that my head just moved to the side.

首先，当我快速将头移到一边时，那些小石头，正如我所说的那样，它们会迅速激活半规管中的毛细胞，并向我的大脑发送信号，表明我的头刚刚移到一边。

But also, visual information slid past my field of view.

而且，视觉信息也从我的视野中溜走了。

I didn't have to think about it but just slid past my field of view.

我无需多想，就从我的视野中溜走了。

And when those two signals combine, my eyes then lock to a particular location.

当这两个信号结合在一起时，我的眼睛就会锁定到一个特定的位置。

Now, if this is at all complicated, you can actually uncouple these things.

现在，如果这很复杂，您实际上可以将这些东西分开。

It's very easy to do.

这很容易做到。

If you get the opportunity, you can do this safely wherever you are.

如果有机会，无论您身在何处都可以安全地进行此操作。

You're going to stand up, and you're going to look forward about 10, 12 feet.

你要站起来，向前看大约 10、12 英尺。

You can pick a point on a wall.

您可以在墙上选取一个点。

Stand on one leg and lift up the other leg-- you can bend your knee if you like-- and just look off into the distance about 10, 12 feet.

单腿站立，抬起另一条腿（如果愿意，可以弯曲膝盖），然后眺望大约 10、12 英尺的距离。

If you can do that, if you can stand on one leg, now close your eyes.

如果你能做到这一点，如果你能单腿站立，现在闭上眼睛。

Chances are you're going to suddenly feel what scientists call postural sway.

您很可能会突然感觉到科学家所说的姿势摇摆。

It is very hard to balance with your eyes closed.

闭上眼睛很难保持平衡。

You might think, well-- and if you think about that, it's like, why is that?

你可能会想，好吧——如果你考虑一下，就会想，为什么会这样？

That's crazy.

太疯狂了。

Why would it be that it's hard to balance with your eyes closed?

为什么闭着眼睛很难保持平衡？

Well, information about the visual world also feeds back onto this vestibular system.

那么，有关视觉世界的信息也会反馈到这个前庭系统。

So the vestibular system informs your vision and tells you where to move your eyes, and your eyes and their positioning tell your balance system, your vestibular system, how it should function.

因此，前庭系统会通知您的视力并告诉您将眼睛移动到哪里，而您的眼睛及其位置会告诉您的平衡系统、前庭系统以及它应该如何运作。

So up until now, I've been talking about balance only in the static sense, like standing on one leg, for instance, but that's a very artificial situation.

所以到目前为止，我只在静态意义上谈论平衡，例如单腿站立，但这是一种非常人为的情况。

Even though you can train balance that way, most people who want to enhance their sense of balance for sport or dance or some other endeavor want to engage balance in a dynamic way, meaning moving through lots of different planes of movement.

尽管你可以通过这种方式训练平衡，但大多数想要增强运动、舞蹈或其他活动的平衡感的人都希望以动态的方式保持平衡，这意味着通过许多不同的运动平面进行移动。

For that, we need to consider that the vestibular system also cares about acceleration.

为此，我们需要考虑到前庭系统也关心加速度。

So it cares about head position, it cares about eye position and where the eyes are and where you're looking, but it also cares about what direction you're moving and how fast.

所以它关心头部位置、眼睛位置、眼睛在哪里以及你在看哪里，但它也关心你移动的方向和速度。

And one of the best things that you can do to enhance your sense of balance is to start to bring together your visual system, the semicircular canals of the inner ear, and what we call linear acceleration.

为了增强平衡感，你能做的最好的事情之一就是开始将你的视觉系统、内耳的半规管和我们所说的线性加速度结合在一起。

So if I move forward in space rigidly upright, it's a vastly different situation than if I'm leaning to the side.

因此，如果我在太空中僵硬地直立前进，情况与我向一侧倾斜时的情况截然不同。

One of the best ways to cultivate a better sense of balance, literally, within the sense organs and the neurons and the biology of the brain is to get into modes where we are accelerating forward-- typically, it's forward-- while also tilted with respect to gravity.

从字面上看，在感觉器官、神经元和大脑生物学内部培养更好的平衡感的最好方法之一就是进入我们加速前进的模式——通常是向前的——同时也相对于重力倾斜。

Now, this would be the carve on a skateboard or on a surfboard or a snowboard.

现在，这将是滑板、冲浪板或滑雪板上的雕刻。

This would be the taking a corner on a bike while being able to lean-- safely, of course-- lean into the turn so that your head is actually tilted with respect to the Earth.

这就是骑着自行车转弯，同时能够倾斜——当然是安全的——倾斜进入转弯，这样你的头实际上相对于地球是倾斜的。

The head being tilted and the body being tilted while in acceleration, typically forward acceleration but sometimes side to side, has a profound and positive effect on our sense of mood and well-being.

加速时（通常是向前加速，但有时是左右加速）头部倾斜和身体倾斜，会对我们的情绪和幸福感产生深远而积极的影响。

And as I talked about in a previous episode, it can also enhance our ability to learn information in the period after generating those tilts and the acceleration.

正如我在上一集中谈到的，它还可以增强我们在产生倾斜和加速度后的一段时间内学习信息的能力。

And that's because the cerebellum has these outputs to these areas of the brain that release these neuromodulators like serotonin and dopamine, and they make us feel really good.

这是因为小脑向大脑的这些区域输出这些神经调节剂，例如血清素和多巴胺，它们让我们感觉非常好。

Those modes of exercise seem to have an outsized effect, both on our well-being and our ability to translate the vestibular balance that we achieve in those endeavors to our ability to balance while doing other things.

这些锻炼方式似乎对我们的健康以及我们将在这些努力中实现的前庭平衡转化为我们在做其他事情时保持平衡的能力产生了巨大的影响。

So I encourage people to get into modes of acceleration while tilted every once in a while, provided you can do it safely.

因此，我鼓励人们每隔一段时间就进入倾斜加速模式，只要你能安全地做到这一点。

It's an immensely powerful way to build up your skills in the realm of balance, and it's also, for most people, very, very pleasing.

这是增强平衡领域技能的一种非常有效的方法，而且对于大多数人来说，它也非常非常令人愉快。

It feels really good because of the chemical relationship between forward acceleration and head tilt and body tilt.

由于向前加速度与头部倾斜和身体倾斜之间的化学关系，感觉真的很好。

Once again, we've covered a tremendous amount of information.

我们再次涵盖了大量信息。

Now you know how you hear, how you make sense of the sounds in your environment, how those come into your ears, and how your brain processes them.

现在您知道您如何听到，如何理解环境中的声音，这些声音如何进入您的耳朵，以及您的大脑如何处理它们。

In addition, we talked about things like low-level white noise and even binaural beats, which can be used to enhance certain brain states, certain rhythms within the brain, and even dopamine release in ways that allow you to learn better.

此外，我们还讨论了诸如低水平白噪声甚至双耳节拍之类的东西，它们可以用来增强某些大脑状态、大脑内的某些节律，甚至可以让你更好地学习多巴胺释放。

And we talked about the balance system and this incredible relationship between your vestibular apparatus, meaning the portions of your inner ear that are responsible for balance, and your visual system and gravity.

我们讨论了平衡系统以及前庭装置（即负责平衡的内耳部分）与视觉系统和重力之间的令人难以置信的关系。

And you can use those to enhance your learning as well, as well as just to enhance your sense of balance.

您也可以使用它们来增强您的学习，以及增强您的平衡感。

Last but not least, I'd like to thank you for your time and attention and desire and willingness to learn about vision and balance.

最后但并非最不重要的一点是，我要感谢您的时间和关注以及学习视力和平衡的愿望和意愿。

And, of course, thank you for your interest in science.

当然，感谢您对科学的兴趣。