Scientists to investigate human benefits of birdsong Monday 19
December 2011 Listening to five minutes of birdsong every day
can be said to help beat the winter blues, but what other
benefits can it bring? A new three year research project that
will look into the impact of birdsong on human wellbeing and
behaviour is being launched today by the University of Surrey in
partnership with the National Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust.
The project will explore the psychological impact of being
exposed to the sound of birdsong, including its effects on our
mood, attention and levels of creativity. The research aims to
increase understanding of the benefits of spending time in
nature and will use studies in the field, laboratory and online
to gather data from a broad slice of the population in rural and
urban locations. Researchers will also investigate whether there
is any difference between listening to recorded birdsong
compared to hearing birds in their natural environment. It will
also rank whether there is any