The Healing Power of Sound

Sound is a type of energy created by vibrations. Vibrations are a kind of rhythm. Human life, including the natural world we call home, is set to rhythms. For example, day and night, moon cycles and tides, seasonal changes, our heartbeat, inhalations and exhalations, metabolic functions, and the way we walk, talk, eat, and sleep are all rhythmic. What’s more, everything and everyone in the universe is constantly vibrating and creating energy that can be felt and absorbed by everything and everyone around. 

In other words, you are an amplifier and a receiver. But sound isn’t exclusively heard; it can also be felt on a physiological, psychological, and cellular level. So, the concept of using sound to heal isn’t so abstract once you understand that we are sound—vibrational and rhythmic beings. 

What Is Sound Healing?

Sound as a healing modality has been utilized for thousands of years across many different cultures. Forty thousand years ago, the aboriginal peoples of Australia used the didgeridoo as a healing instrument. Five thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians used vocal toning to create therapeutic vowel sounds with the voice and breath. Around the same time, singing bowls were first being made in Mesopotamia. Ancient Chinese gongs, Hindu mantras, Buddhist chanting, icaros (magic songs) performed by South American shamans, and flutes played by ancient Greek physicians are all forms of ancient sound healing practices, many of which have gained popularity in modern times for their therapeutic effects. 

As vibrational and rhythmic beings, optimal health results from all our natural frequencies (every cell, tissue, organ, and bone has its own prime resonance) being in tune. You can think of yourself as a sophisticated symphony and sound healing as a way to re-harmonize a-synchronicities in the mind and body. Toxic substances, pathogens, emotional traumas, persistent stress, long-term exposure to noise pollution, and artificial EMFs (electromagnetic fields) can all disrupt our natural frequencies. 

How Do Sound Baths Work?

A sound bath is a meditative experience where the participant is “bathed” in sound waves from various sources, including tuning forks, singing bowls, chimes, and gongs. The simple intention of sound bathing is to restore the natural balance and cadence of our unique frequencies. Similar to other healing practices like yoga, breathwork, and traditional meditation, sound healing provides an opportunity to reduce sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) reactivity. 

While sound healing has been used for thousands of years, and there have since been substantial studies exploring the science behind sound baths, there is still a lot we don’t understand yet. The study of sound and how it affects our wellbeing is part quantum physics, sacred geometry, neuroscience, and a blend of Eastern and Western medical thought. An interesting concept that has gained a lot of attention in this realm, though, is brain entrainment.  

What is brain entrainment? 

The human brain produces five types of brain waves: 

• Gamma (more than 30 Hz): the fastest brain wave for processing information from different areas of the brain
• Beta (12-30 Hz): a state of alert consciousness linked to active thinking, concentration, and anxiety
• Alpha (8-12 Hz): produced during a relaxed, lucid, and calm state 
• Theta (4-8 Hz): brain wave associated with light sleep, meditation, or deep relaxation
• Delta (less than 4 Hz): occurs during deep, dreamless sleep or in a deep meditative state 

It is hypothesized that brain waves may be significantly altered during sound healing. This can be caused by a phenomenon called brain entrainment or binaural beats. When two tones are played with different hertz levels, such as 315 Hz and 320 Hz, the brain entrains to five hertz (the difference between the two); five hertz is in the theta wave spectrum. So, in theory, a participant in an agitated state can be brought down to a more relaxed state using binaural beats. 

And speaking of different frequencies—how are the works of an 11th-century Benedictine monk and a 20th-century German physicist related and relevant? 

The Solfeggio frequencies and Schumann resonance 

In the 11th century, Benedictine monk Guido D’Arezzo introduced the solfeggio scale, tones that are mathematically related by ratios of small whole numbers. These frequencies were the fundamental sounds sung by Gregorian monks and used in ancient Sanskrit chanting. It wasn’t until the 1970s that physician and researcher Dr. Joseph Puleo rediscovered the solfeggio frequencies, which had been relatively lost with the introduction of the now widely used 12-tone equal temperament in music. Dr. Puleo discovered that the solfeggio frequencies could help bring the body back into balance and aid healing. The solfeggio frequencies have a positive effect because they resonate harmoniously with the Schumann resonance. 

In 1952, German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann mathematically recorded the electromagnetic resonances between the Earth’s surface and the electrically charged part of the Earth’s atmosphere (the ionosphere). What he discovered was that the “Earth’s heartbeat” resonated at a low frequency between 7.86 Hz and 8 hertz. Schumann’s successor, Herbert Konig, took this information a step further and found that the Schumann resonance (appropriately named) matched various levels of human brainwave states. The harmony created between solfeggio frequencies (from sound healing techniques, including music) and the Earth’s eight-hertz heartbeat has been linked to some pretty incredible health benefits. 

What Are the Health Benefits of Sound Healing? 

While anecdotally, it has been known for thousands of years that sound can positively affect wellbeing, both physically and mentally, science is still working on catching up with evidence-based explanations. However, there areis already a substantial number of studies highlighting the benefits sound healing can provide. Research suggests that the use of sound in healing can: 

• Reduce stress and tension
• Reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Improve mood and energy levels 
• Alleviate physical pain 
• Increase blood circulation 
• Lower blood pressure 
• Improve heart rate variability 
• Promote relaxation and sleep
• Inspire a sense of wellbeing, balance, and connection 
• Increase mental clarity and intuition 
• Release emotional blockages and traumas 
• Encourage self-healing

How to Experience Sound Healing 

The beauty of sound healing is that there are different ways to experience it and in different settings. Traditional sound healing methods like singing bowls, gongs, chimes, and tuning forks can be enjoyed in your home as a recording that you listen to or if you have the instrument, by playing it yourself; during a sound healing session with a professional sound healer; or in a yoga or meditation class. Sound healing apps where you can access solfeggio frequency sounds and binaural beat recordings are now widely available for your listening leisure. You can also combine sound healing with your breathwork, yoga, and meditation practices. 

Additionally, state-of-the-art technologies like AmpCoil and BioCharger have harnessed the power of vibrational frequencies in a device that can be used to help optimize your health and tune you into your best self. 

Feel the Sound 

As a non-invasive and holistic therapy, sound healing can provide benefits for everyone, even if it is just a tool to help you relax at the end of a long day. It will be hard to deny, though, that the Aboriginals, Egyptians, Greek, Chinese, shamans of South America, and many other cultures, past and present, were onto something by utilizing sound for its healing properties after experiencing a sound bath for yourself.