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BOSTON — It’s a condition you don’t want your next-door neighbor to have. Lending weight to the suspicions of generations of disgruntled neighbors, roommates and parents, a group of
researchers at Northeastern University have published a study suggesting some people might have addictions to loud music. “One of the hallmarks of addictions is continued use, despite
physical harm. These people couldn’t stop listening,” said Mary Florentine, one of the authors of the study published Dec. 15 in the journal of the American Auditory Society. Ninety people
were recruited for the study, and the researchers gave them a questionnaire similar to those used to identify alcoholics. For example, the translated the question, “Do you feel you are a
normal drinker?” to “Do you feel you listen to music at normal levels?” Other questions asked respondents if they had ever lost housing or been in trouble with the law because of loud music.
The study argues that music, like alcohol, heroin and nicotine, “has the capacity to induce rapid and potent changes in mood and level of arousal, the ability to reduce negative states, and
the tendency to elicit the experience of craving.” While the study identified eight people suffering from “Maladaptive Music Listening,” Florentine cautioned that the results do not mean
eight of 90 people have the condition; many participants were recruited at a record store, and some had already been identified as likely subjects.
