Analgesic property of white noise: an experimental study.

The analgesic property of white noise was assessed in 100 healthy volunteer students. Each of them was asked to self administer electrical square wave impulses in order to determine 3 physiological parameters of pain sensation: perception threshold, pain threshold and pain tolerance. These measurements were first performed without any acoustic stimulation and then with a 100 dB white noise. The results showed that the 3 thresholds were significantly increased under white noise. However, the relatively lower average increase obtained for pain threshold and tolerance compared to the perception level, and the great variability of the analgesic efficiency of white noise among subjects, show that this analgesic process is not reliable enough to be useful in medical or dental practice.