Along the lines of the recent “screaming in pain” question. Why, when in long-term pain, does it feel better or soothing to quietly moan? I’m talking aches, or chronic pain flairs, etc, rather than acute sudden pain. Does it have to do with lengthening exhalation duration?
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Most of the above sounds plausible, especially the vibration aspect.
One thing I didn’t see touched on is the physiological aspects of the moan, aside from the sound vibrations.
Rather than rapid, shallow breathing (agonal breathing), moaning:
1) slows your respiratory rate. This is a key method in helping a person with panic, anxiety, stress, etc.
2) much like yawning, it requires deeper inhalation, and thus more oxygen to deal with physical insults.
3) deeper inhalation almost by definition results in fuller exhalation, so 2 and 3 combine to increase the efficacy of 1.
4) there’s something that’s somehow soothing about slow exhalation, especially when controlled by the diaphragm and in conjunction with vocalization. When sad, we cry; vocalization. When happy, we might sing. When angry, we yell. When scared, we scream. Being in pain (chronic), I even get help just slowly letting my breath out, and even holding it (glottal stop) for a few seconds. This is just below an actual moan.
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