Effects of face-to-face confrontation with another individual on the physiological response to sounds

Abstract

To understand the effects of face-to-face interpersonal situations on the physiological response to auditory stimuli, the present study examined physiological responses to contrasting positive and negative sounds, a murmuring river and road traffic, under contrasting interpersonal conditions, a solitary situation with the participants alone in a room and a face-to-face situation with pair of the participants together in a room, respectively, using electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV). The results of the EEG measurements revealed a remarkable increase of α-EEG in the face-to-face situation compared with the solitary situation under the road traffic sound condition. By contrast, a significant increase in the low frequency/high frequency ratio (an HRV indicator known to increase with sympathetic activation) was seen in the face-to-face situation under the murmuring river sound condition. Therefore, the social factor of interpersonal situations appears to affect the EEG as an interactive effect with the auditory stimulus. The increase of α-EEG under the road traffic sound condition suggests that the interpersonal effect of a face-to-face situation with another individual can reduce stressful states caused by negative sounds.