Vocalising when you are in pain is a common behaviour. From birth, we instinctively yelp whenever we are hurt.
And now scientists have found that saying ‘ow’ really can ease pain.
The research investigated whether vocalising is analgesic (pain-relieving) and if it helps to tolerate pain longer.
The research investigated how participants rated pain under five conditions, including:
- placing one hand in ice cold water for as long as possible while either saying ‘ow’
- listening to a recording of them saying ‘ow’
- listening to another person saying ‘ow;
- pressing a response button
- or say nothing.
Participants were able to keep their hand into painfully cold water longer when saying ‘ow’ compared to doing nothing.
Pressing a response button had a similar effect but hearing someone else’s voice did not.
The scientists noted that pain-related exclamations such as “ow” were pretty similar in most cultures: “eina” in South Africa, “ahia” in Italy, “aiyo” in Chinese and “ouch” in the US.
Interestingly, these sounds share a common movement of the mouth “the mouth simply opens, the tongue lies flat and the lips remain unrounded”.
“It is a simple sound that requires little articulatory control, while maximising volume output. As such it may be used quite easily and effectively when in pain.”
These results show that vocalising pain helps individuals cope with their pain longer, but that this is not only a communicative signal, vocalising is an effective analgesic that requires little effort is easily applied when injury and pain obstruct other, more complex body movements.