Without auditory detection nor expectancy effects, infrasound exposure was linked to elevated cortisol and more negative affective self-reporting.

[Neuro]

Not expected infrasound ( < 20 Hz) exposure is in this study linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans.​

Frontiers | Infrasound exposure is linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans

IntroductionInfrasound describes sound wave frequencies below 20 Hz, which are typically imperceptible to humans. Some animals perceive and demonstrate avers...

www.frontiersin.org

While infrasound can be stressful, a pilot study showed that sounds in the 40–115 Hz range were able to lower cortisol levels in a majority of test subjects.

Soundwaves effect on hematic cortisol level: a pilot study | ICEECE2012 | 15th International & 14th European Congress of Endocrinology | Endocrine Abstracts

www.endocrine-abstracts.org

This may not be true for audiophiles. Audiophiles have typically learned to identify sounds below 20 Hz. Some anticipation of experiencing sub-bass may not be stressful and may be experienced positively.
Are there any good studies on cortisol levels in audiophiles related to different frequencies?

The findings in this study may explain why non-audiophiles do not like sounds below 20 Hz.

JM

 

[Gregm]

Not expected infrasound ( < 20 Hz) exposure is in this study linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans.​

Frontiers | Infrasound exposure is linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans

IntroductionInfrasound describes sound wave frequencies below 20 Hz, which are typically imperceptible to humans. Some animals perceive and demonstrate avers...

www.frontiersin.org

While infrasound can be stressful, a pilot study showed that sounds in the 40–115 Hz range were able to lower cortisol levels in a majority of test subjects.

Soundwaves effect on hematic cortisol level: a pilot study | ICEECE2012 | 15th International & 14th European Congress of Endocrinology | Endocrine Abstracts

www.endocrine-abstracts.org

This may not be true for audiophiles. Audiophiles have typically learned to identify sounds below 20 Hz. Some anticipation of experiencing sub-bass may not be stressful and may be experienced positively.

JM

So, you're saying that the foolproof way to spot a real audiophile is a blind test with infrasonic tones: if they can hear them, they’re in!

 

[Soniclife]

Audiophiles have typically learned to identify sounds below 20 Hz.

Is there evidence of this claim? Without evidence there is no reason to believe their different from the rest of the population.

 

[RandomEar]

Looks like a well designed study. The results are also pretty clear. Overall, the main weakness is two-fold: A low number of participants (9 per sub-group, 36 in total) plus just one run per participant - so no single participant was tested under the same conditions with and without infrasonic sound being present.

While the self-reported data is pretty clear on showing a negative effect of the infrasonic tone on mood, the cortisol data looks nice in the statistical eval but the overall data is weird in one aspect: The standard deviation of the results is pretty high for all data points except the one where calming music was used and the infrasonic tone was off. This combo shows nearly no spread of cortisol levels between the 9 participants and this heavily increases the significance of the results. Due to the small number of participants, this could still be a random outcome, though. From my point of view, this "derates" the seemingly strong results from the statistical analysis on the cortisol data.

Also, stating

Audiophiles have typically learned to identify sounds below 20 Hz.

just out of the blue without providing any evidence seems weird and unnecessary (unless I'm missing the irony here?).