Why do people sing in the bathroom?

As I sit down to write this piece, I realize with some embarrassment that, I have spent a disconcertingly large amount of time thinking about this question. But then again, I reassure myself that my preoccupation with inconsequential thoughts is shared by many famous people. Off the top of my head, Calvin and his “..command of thoroughly useless information” comes to mind. (https://twitter.com/calvinn_hobbes/status/520702981776621569)

I am even more encouraged to find that bathroom singing has its own Wikipedia page. And people (at least makers of bathroom products) consider it sufficiently important to ask about it in their surveys. It appears that 20% of people indulge in the pastime. (http://www.map-testing.com/assets/files/Am%20Std%20Bathroom%20Survey%20detailed%20findings.pdf) I would have thought that the figure would be higher, but in any case, convinced of the nontrivial nature of my pursuit, I am emboldened to present my secretly nurtured hypotheses here.

Most humans are by nature insecure. It is also safe to say that most do not possess pleasant singing voices, nor can they carry a tune. And the realization comes eventually to all, though after much public humiliation, to the less insightful among us. The bathroom provides the ideal, criticism-free, safe haven that all amateur singers seek. But this is not all. Apart from the non-judging solitude, the average bathroom also provides great acoustic support. For those not gifted with naturally resonating voices, the closed confines of a bathroom works as a resonating chamber, providing much needed positive feedback. This premise is also supported by the experts at HowStuffWorks! (https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/biology-fields/sing-in-the-shower.htm) But I think that the more important factor is that there is diminished negative feedback in a bathroom environment. For one, I have encountered simple rural folk singing their lungs out while having a bath out in the open. No reverberating chamber there! The simple reason is that most people are unable to listen to their voices in their true glory, because they are either vigorously soaping themselves, or their shower is noisy and is drowning them out.

But despite my conviction about the reasons for bathroom singing, in the true spirit of science, I have to acknowledge that my hypotheses are all based on uncontrolled and potentially biased observations. Many others have apparently given much thought to this and have arrived at different conclusions. Wikipedia tells us that an Islamic scholar believed that while having a hot bath “..the heat of the air enters their spirits and makes them hot, they are found to experience joy”. Though this sounds reasonable, I am forced to reject it, as the hypothesis was primarily used to explain a racist presumption. (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter1/Ch_1_04.htm)   Given that we don’t know for sure why someone signs in the bathroom, the area is ripe for research. There is an Ig Nobel prize to be had, for sure. At least the manufacturers of bathroom ware should consider this seriously.

In the meantime, if someone claims to be a fantastic bathroom singer, I will assume that it is highly likely that she has a faulty shower, or an acoustically perfect bathroom. But I will not begrudge her the simple joy, because, as Scott Adams says “The key to happiness is self-delusion”.