Music is an essential part of life. We listen to music in our homes, on road trips and at concerts. Music listening has therapeutic benefits for many people. It provides stress relief, helps insomnia and even improves concentration. This article explores how listening to music affects the mind and the science, why it sounds better when you’re high. From the effects of THC on sound perception to sensory details about different instruments. This article covers it all. So sit back, relax and enjoy a hit of some good green with us. Lets dive into the world of weed and music…

Why Music Sounds Better When You’re High

Studies on marijuana and music, and how it affects sound perception in general. These remain scarce due to marijuana’s illegal status in many states. The most common reasons people like to listen to music while high is because the music sounds “better”. It’s hard to describe, but music sounds just more pleasing and enjoyable. This effect is experienced by the majority of weed smokers. Some people even find that music sounds worse when they’re high. This is due to a range of factors such as the type of music. 

There are two reasons why music sounds better when you’re high. First, THC reduces your ability to focus on more than one thing at once. Which is an advantage when listening to music. Second, cannabinoids, the chemical compounds found in marijuana, are similar to the chemicals found in the human brain. These same chemics control our perception of sound. When you’re high, cannabinoids in marijuana bind with cannabinoid receptors found in the brain to regulate our senses. People stoned on marijuana tend to hear music from note to note. Listening to music enhances activity in your nervous system’s reward center. otherwise known as the mesolimbic dopamine system.

What Exactly Makes Music Sound So Good When You’re High?

  • Acoustic Signals: Some of marijuana’s mind altering properties, can be consciously apparent while listening to music. It has a significant impact on your ability to hear and interpret acoustic signals. The sound you hear when listening to music is an acoustic signal. So when you smoke weed, cannabinoids affect the way your brain interprets those acoustic signals. The ability to hear and interpret acoustic signals is crucial when listening to music. The way you interpret sounds helps you to identify different elements of the music like rhythms, frequencies and timbres. When you’re high, your ability to see acoustic signals is heightened, THC receptors create heightened perceptions. This is why music sounds better when you’re high. Because you’re able to recognize more intricate details of the music.

 

  • Sound Processing: Another reason why cannabis can make a song sound better is because cannabinoids have an impact on sound processing. Sound processing occurs when you’re listening to music, and it involves the way your brain processes sound. This process is a crucial part of enjoying music. It helps you to create a vivid mental image of the song you’re listening to. This image is created by combining information about the music you’re listening to. Combining with memories and associations you have with the music. Sound processing is the part of your brain that allows you to create this image. The cannabinoids in marijuana have a significant impact on it when listening to music.

The Science of how Weed Influences your Sense of Sound

  • Similarities between the Brain and Cannabis: The brain and cannabis are similar in that they both contain cannabinoids. These cannabinoids have a significant impact on how your brain processes sound. Making it easier to focus on the music being played. When you smoke weed, it has a significant impact on your brain. This impact causes your brain to release endocannabinoids that bind with cannabinoid receptors in the brain. This significantly influences your brain’s ability to process sound. The impact is particularly significant for music lovers because it has a significant impact on ability to perceive sound. It means that cannabinoids have a significant impact on your brain’s ability to process sound. Making it easier to focus on the music being played.

  • Better Auditory Imagery: Weed has a significant impact on your ability to create auditory imagery. Auditory imagery is the ability to create an image in your mind based on the sound you’re listening to. This image is created based on memories and associations you have with the music being played. When you smoke weed, it has a significant impact on your ability to create auditory imagery. This impact causes cannabinoids to bind with cannabinoid receptors in your brain. Which significantly influences your ability to create auditory imagery. This system explains a lot of the unique effects it has on music listening.

Studies on Music and Marijuana

In 2002, Fachner conducted a study investigating the link between cannabis usage, music perception, and changes in brainwave activity. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG), a device capable of detecting small changes in electrical activity throughout the brain. Fachner first measured the subject’s brainwave activity while sober (both with and without the presence of music). The results indicated that music-listening cannabis users experienced changes in parietal, right temporal and left occipital cortices. Brain areas that have previously been associated with attentional strategy, auditory processing, and spatial processing.

More specifically, the parietal (attentional strategy) cortex shows stronger activity in a particular frequency range called alpha. Interestingly, previous EEG studies have shown that students who excel in mathematics also display similar increases in alpha patterns. This indicates that this activity pattern might be indicative of more efficient information processing than the average person.

 

Summing up

This article explores how listening to music affects the mind. As well as the science behind why it sounds better when you’re high. There is still much to learn and understand about marijuana.  How it affects the way people hear and perceive music. From the effects of THC on sound perception to timbre, this article covers it all. If you’re a music lover, then it’s worth trying out a session while high. But in the end, it really doesn’t matter why cannabis makes music sound more beautiful. But there is a pretty unanimous consensus amongst smokers that it does add to the overall enjoyment!