The researchers involved in the study used auditory illusions to show that moments of silence can actually create distortions in how people perceive time, leading to a key conclusion about how people’s brains process silences.
that, “Philosophers have long debated whether silence is something we can literally perceive, but there hasn't been a scientific study aimed directly at this question.”, the scientists sought evidence of whether our brains treat silences the way they treat sounds when subjected to auditory illusions.The illusions used by the research team for the study were well-known but changed to achieve the effects they were hoping to explore.
The study’s co-author, Ian Phillips, Professor of Philosophy and Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, suggested that this proves silence can be heard. , adding, "The kinds of illusions and effects that look like they are unique to the auditory processing of a sound, we also get them with silences, suggesting we really do hear absences of sound too."communicated with the study’s lead author, Rui Zhe Goh, a Johns Hopkins University graduate student in philosophy and psychology, for greater insight on the study.