Just to add to the conversation:
There was an article in the New Yorker a few months ago about cabin fever, which seems (in my mind, anyway) to relate more to the ideas described in “prairie madness”:
Highly recommend, it’s worth the read.
There are some interesting conversations here about wind, which makes me think less of ambient sound, and more about the Mistral in France, and the Santa Ana in southern California. Peter Mayle tells a few stories about the Mistral in his memoir, A Year in Provence. It’s quite a thing.
My wife, who is part Dakota (aka Sioux), and I have always wondered why white people seem to become deeply paranoid, outwardly exhibiting signs of mental unbalance when living alone in big empty spaces. For me, this phenomenon really explains the U.S.A.'s political landscape. Europeans built a mythos of rugged individualisms and the freedoms inspired by living alone out in the expanse – this is clearly at odds with reality, however.
Indigenous people stuck together in clusters of small family groups, so there was always a deep communal vibe to retreat into. Plus, they had an extensive social order to maintain. And lots of ceremonies and games and storytelling to pass the time during the extreme winter months.
Meanwhile in the Little House on the Prairie the kids have gone feral, Pa is stoic with depression, and Ma is eyeing the straight razor on the bureau.
Interesting. I seem to be one of the people that, after a couple of months, am able simply to filter out outside noises (my first wife and I had a flat under the approach path to Heathrow Airport, and it never bothered us after a little while).
One theory not mentioned was the idea of possible ergot poisoning from contaminated grain. Similar symptoms to LSD or magic mushrooms.
A little off axis, but whenever I think of all that barbed wire out there (and I’ve been through parts of the Panhandle, and not just on I-40) I’m reminded of how bloody resourceful some of those folks could be!
It seems that you’re describing misophonia. “…for people living with a condition called misophonia, originally known as selective sound sensitivity syndrome, these noises are more than just bothersome. With misophonia, those small sounds, and plenty of others, can be downright unbearable.”
As a sufferer of pretty strong misophonia, I can say it’s not about filtering noises. It’s about certain noises triggering honest-to-goodness rage in the brain. Mainly chewing and other mouth sounds. It’s one of those things that mildly annoys most, really bothers some, and induces actual smashing rage in a few. I had to learn from a young age how to control this and it is still a struggle some days.
With no visual reference points an episode of vertigo is close at hand. Maybe you are on to something in that there may be an undercurrent of physical sensation to this madness.
ETA - @Surprise_Puma beat me to the vertigo reference. I like their description of the sensation of “falling up”. I find in practice that the ground or boat deck comes rushing up and hits me hard.
