In 55 volunteers with good hearing, sound-evoked changes in the blood
flow of the basilar artery were studied using colour coded Doppler son
ography. After a rest of twenty minutes 2 groups of subjects listened
to sound of varying volume using a head phone. In one group (n = 25) t
he sound volume was 25 dB and in the second group (n = 30) the volume
was 65 dB. In both groups significant sound evoked changes of vascular
resistance were found, quantified by the RI. In the case of applying
soft sound (25 dB) the RI decreased, indicating an increase of volume
flow while with louder sound (65 dB) the RI increased, indicating a re
duction of flow.