Just a minute-full of "sound spice" may keep the motion sickness away

Listening to 60 seconds of 100 hertz at 65.9 dBa might have helped this guy. Depositphotos –

By Ben Coxworth
2025 Apr 10
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Nobody likes being carsick, seasick or airsick, but what can you do to keep from getting that way? Well, according to a new study, simply listening to an audio tone for one minute might be all it takes to stop you from losing your lunch.

Motion sickness occurs when the movement that we see with our eyes and/or sense with our muscles and joints doesn’t match up with the movement sensed by our inner ear.

This disconnect affects our sense of balance, resulting in unpleasant reactions such as dizziness, nausea and fatigue. And while preemptively taking certain medications can help stop this from happening, they don’t always work that well. That’s where the tone comes in.

Previous studies already suggested that using sound to stimulate the inner ear’s fluid-filled utricle cavity may assist in maintaining a sense of balance. Takumi Kagawa, Masashi Kato and colleagues at Japan’s Nagoya University set about exploring that theory further, by observing how tones of different frequencies and loudnesses activated the vestibular (balance-maintaining) function of extracted mouse utricles.

The tone that worked best had a frequency of 100 hertz and a loudness of 65.9 dBa (A-weighted decibels). It has been trademarked as “sound spice.”

Live mice subsequently listened to it for five minutes, after which they were subjected to motion-sickness-inducing movement, then made to walk across a tiny balance beam. As compared to a control group that wasn’t pretreated with the tone, they were found to exhibit a motion-sickness-alleviating effect that lasted for over two hours.

*A driving simulator that was utilized in the study. Nagoya University*

Human test subjects showed … [For the balance of this very interesting and potentially highly helpful article please visit: https://newatlas.com/medical-tech/sound-spice-tone-motion-sickness/]
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The research is described in a paper that was recently published in the journal Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.

Source: Nagoya University
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Tags

Medical Innovations Nagoya University Motion Sound
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Ben Coxworth

Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Ben is particularly interested in scientific innovation, human-powered transportation, and the marine environment.
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3 Comments

Trylon – 2025 Apr 10 – 02:59 PM

I’ve got nothing to lose, so I’ve downloaded a tone generator on my phone and will try it on the next long ride. Along with a couple of gelcaps I’ll fill with ginger powder. I know those help in my case, and many others have reported that ginger helps their motion sickness. A few studies also support the use of ginger.

JS – 2025 Apr 10 – 03:22 PM

Makes me think of the legend of the “brown note.” You guys remember that one? I think Myth Busters busted that one.

JS – 2025 Apr 10 – 03:25 PM

@Trylon – I heard, but have never investigated, that an old seaman’s trick would be to put an earplug in one ear … I guess it’s either just annoying enough or that it actually helps with the inner ear wackiness that often causes motion sickness. Unvalidated info… just passing along an old wive’s tale. You did say you’ve got nothing to lose. 🙂 Good luck!
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