Psycho-acoustics

Related Terms

Chanting, crystal bowls, didgeridoo, gong, harmonics, metal bowls, music therapy, psycho-acoustics, singing, sonic tools, toning, tuning fork, vibration, vibration healing.

Background

Sound healing is the use of chanting, music, and other types of noises to stimulate the body to repair itself. The power of this modality lies within sound, which is transmitted as vibrations of energy through matter in the air at a particular wavelength. Within the worldview of sound healing, everything in the universe is recognized to be in a state of vibration, and thus giving out sounds. When a person is sick, they are considered to be "out of tune." In sound healing, musical instruments and the human voice are two of the most frequently used tools to bring a sick person back "in to tune." Although sound healing is a topic of increasing interest in complementary and alternative medicine, there is not yet a body of literature on this modality.
The belief system of this modality maintains that all forms of human illness occur when the body is not in sync with a state of health, which is defined as a vibratory frequency of the body that is "in tune" with the surrounding environment. During a sound healing session, the vibrations from instruments, noise makers, or even human voices shift a person's energy to exist in harmony with the health embodied as therapeutic sound. These frequencies may help a person heal, for instance, from emotional problems or a reoccurring infection.
Although the exact origin of sound healing as a modality is unknown, people from a variety of cultures have used chanting, music, singing and unusual sounds to soothe the sick for thousands of years. Contemporary sound healing is a combination of very old techniques of healing combined with modern research and world view.
In contemporary times, sound healing is used in a variety of therapeutic settings, such as birthing centers, detoxification clinics, and hospices. The sound may occur in the form of soothing music, but it also might include other noises, such as chanting or banging on gongs. Sound healing is sometimes also used in conjunction with other modalities. For instance, music may be played in the course of a therapeutic massage or during a session of acupuncture.
In recent years, the medical community has directed an increasing amount of attention to the role of music and soothing sounds in patient quality of life and pain threshold. However, no higher quality studies have been conducted to evaluate the role of sound itself in healing any medical condition.

Practice

The material from which every sound producing object, tool or human voice arises is said to possess particular qualities. For instance, a gong may be created from one of several metals. Each of these metals, when struck, produces a different sound, which in turn creates a different type of healing environment. Further, each gong can produce several notes, and the notes also have particular healing qualities. Sounds are chosen on the basis of their specific healing powers. There is no commonly agreed upon classification of which sounds may heal a person. However, the sounds used in this form of therapy tend to be repeated for a long time and are not muffled.
The primary tool in sound healing is the instrument used to produce sound. Such instruments include gongs, metal bowls, crystal bowls, didgeridoos (a wind instrument created by Australian Aboriginals from wood eaten by termites), and Western-style instruments such as a violin. Sound healing might also be invoked by singing or chanting. In some cases, sound healing is said to occur by playing pre-recorded media created by artists or practitioners of sound music for this purpose.
There is no one way that a sound healing session may be conducted. Their form and duration vary. Many sound healing sessions are integrated with other complementary and alternative medicine modalities.
Sound healing may be practiced individually or in groups. In a group setting, a patient may sit passively and simply listen to the sounds in a session, or he may contribute to the process of creating the therapeutic environment for everyone involved. A group may gather together to help each other heal, or they may gather with the intent of healing a single person in the group. Some patients choose to orchestrate their own sound healing sessions by producing music or noise with the intent to heal on their own.

Theory / Evidence

Sound healing functions on the philosophy that all atoms exist at a particular threshold of vibration. The atoms in a person or environment therefore take on a certain level of vibration. When the body is sick, the level at which a person vibrates might be abnormal. Illness occurs when these atoms comprising the human body vibrate at unhealthy frequencies. Illness results from the unhealthy frequency, because body functions cannot take place as they should.
Alternatively, a healthy body may succumb to illness when it is surrounded by unhealthy environmental frequencies, including noises or fields of energy. An unhealthy environment that is "out of tune" with a state of good health may cause the people in that environment to also be "out of tune." As a result, the patient's body may begin to resonate at an unhealthy frequency and, illness results.
Sound is generally believed to target various aspects of the body's ability to heal, and the frequencies played in therapy aim to correct the imbalances. Emotional problems or a reoccurring infection are two examples of imbalances that proponents might use to help a patient become more well.
There have been numerous studies to gauge the effect of playing music on perception of pain, and anxiety of patients experiencing moderate to severe discomfort, such as after open-heart surgery.
A 2007 study by Wachi et al. found that male Japanese corporate employees under high levels of stress had healthier immune systems and were more relaxed if they participated in recreational drumming than the control group. The study participants engaged in group recreational drumming or read leisure materials as a means of relaxation for six months.
A 2007 study by Mitterschiffthaler et al. found that healthy patients who listened to happy or sad classical music while getting a functional MRI demonstrated arousal in the some areas of the brain that process emotion.
In a 1998 study by Good et al., researchers found that Taiwanese patients were agitated by listening to jazz music that was played in an experiment with the intent of reducing postoperative pain. At the completion of the study, these patients reported that they would have preferred Buddhist chants or Taiwanese pop music. The results of this study imply that the emotional state associated with a genre of music is at least, in part, culturally determined.
While the results of these studies are varied, none have measured sound as a means of inducing the process of healing unto itself. In other words, soothing sounds have been investigated to boost immunity or encourage relaxation, but not to heal an infection or entirely resolve mental illness.

Author information

This information has been edited and peer-reviewed by contributors to the Natural Standard Research Collaboration (www.naturalstandard.com).

Bibliography

Good M, Chin CC. The effects of Western music on postoperative pain in Taiwan. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 1998 Feb;14(2):94-103.
McSmith D. Sound healing. WORLD. 2002 Jan;(129):7.
Mitterschiffthaler MT, Fu CH, Dalton JA, et al. A functional MRI study of happy and sad affective states induced by classical music. Hum Brain Mapp. 2007 Feb 8.
Sound Healers Association.
Voss JA, Good M, Yates B, et al. Sedative music reduces anxiety and pain during chair rest after open-heart surgery. Pain. 2004 Nov;112(1-2):197-203.
Wachi M, Koyama M, Utsuyama M, et al. Recreational music-making modulates natural killer cell activity, cytokines, and mood states in corporate employees. Med Sci Monit. 2007 Jan 18;13(2):CR57-70.