Many of our memories are connected to sounds. These sounds can evoke very different feelings stretching from sadness to joy and peace to anger. What one sound can mean to you can be greatly different in someone else.

I love to hear the sound of rain. It takes me back to my childhood when we used to take family holidays staying in caravans on the east coast of England. With British weather being what it is, we would often have rain which could confine us at times to staying inside the caravan and listening to the patter of rain on the roof. The memories this evokes, though, are of the happy times playing family games and chatting with each other. In those days, there were no mobile phones and Internet to make us so insular!

Another sound is that of the birds singing, particularly in the spring as life wakens up after winter. There are some birds whose raucous calls, such as gulls, can at certain times be annoying, especially at 5 am!

Music of course, brings back memories and creates feelings of different moods. It has been used for millennia to inspire people into battle or raise their spiritual feelings. The TV and movie industry use music constantly to create the mood of what is on the screen. We all have our favourite pieces of music and songs and some that we just hate!

It is said that “you can never judge a book by its cover” and you can never tell what type of music people like or loathe unless you get to know them. The most unlikely person, based on appearances I have met told me how he loved Baroque music, but when looking at him with his dreadlocks, you might have guessed reggae or rap!

I am sure that we all have hundreds of sounds locked into our minds that will bring back memories, with many more still to be developed. Research into dementia is showing the value of music to help sufferers have a better quality of life and bring back happy feelings showing just how deep inside us sounds are stored.

I would love to hear your thoughts, so please do leave a comment below.