SOUND
Sound is all around us, from the subtle organic orchestra that nature brings each day, to the more intrusive sounds and vibrations of man made vehicles, machines and various forms of technology. Humans adore music and the way it makes them feel, the memories it conjures, and the physiological affect it can have, pumping them up during exercise, or creating tingles throughout the body during a moving live concert. It can also have a negative effect on our system - when an annoying loud alarm goes off or a high pitched noise pierces through the air, irritating us and sending our stress levels through the roof.
But how does sound actually work from a scientific perspective? How does it travel through the air and affect a solid structure?
Sound is vibrational energy that travels through a medium (air, water, walls) and eventually reaches our eardrums. Once that vibrational energy reaches our ears, it vibrates those eardrums, which our brains pick up via the auditory nerve and interpret as sound. Sources of sound can include anything that produces vibration. Sound vibration can also vibrate a solid structure - a window, a building, the human body.
All sounds travel at a specific frequency. A sound wave’s frequency is determined by the number of vibrations that repeat over a predetermined unit of time. In sound measurement, frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz), which represents the number of vibrations per second. When that frequency is very low, we hear a low pitch. When that frequency is very high, we hear a high pitch. The strength of sound vibration is expressed as volume (measured in decibels).
Everything in our universe is vibrating. Even objects that appear motionless and solid are vibrating. Our cells are vibrating too!
So how can sound vibration impact our body and overall wellbeing?
The body’s biofield: It has been hypothesized that the human body has an energy field surrounding it.If this is the case, the vibrations of the instruments may be interacting with this biofield 1,2. In fact, Miles and True proposed that both Reiki healing and sound healing may have an effect of vibrational attuning of the body and its biofield. 3
Human brain waves: Brain waves may be significantly altered during sound healing. Thus, brain waves may change from a normal or even agitated state (such as beta waves), to an exceptionally relaxed brain wave state (such as theta or even delta waves), while listening to relaxing music or singing bowls.4,5 (Ref: Eastern Integrative Medicine and Ancient Sound Healing Treatments for Stress: Recent Research Advances By Tamara L Goldsby & Michael E Goldsby, 2020 Dec;19(6):24-30).
There is also the law of entrainment to consider:
Entrainment is defined by a temporal locking process in which one system's motion or signal frequency entrains the frequency of another system. This process is a universal phenomenon that can be observed in physical (e.g., pendulum clocks.
When bathing in the vibrations of singing bowls and musical instruments, the body is syncing up with the frequency of the sound being experienced.
The frequencies of the singing bowls and instruments can also stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system to induce relaxation.
Often when we have been under considerable stress, in go go go sympathetic mode, our internal rhythm gets disrupted. We feel out of sorts, frazzled, not focused or present. Sound vibration can help to align, re-sync and reset our internal rhythm to a more calm, grounded and restful state.
1.Beri K. A future perspective for regenerative medicine: understanding the concept of vibrational medicine. Future Sci OA. 2018;4(3):FSO274 doi. org/10.4155/fsoa-2017-0097 PMID:29568563
2.Rubik B, Muehsam D, Hammerschlag R, Jain S. Biofield science and healing: history, terminology, and concepts. Glob Adv Health Med. 2015. November;4(Suppl):8-14. doi:10.7453/gahmj.2015.038.suppl Epub 2015 Nov 1. PMID:26665037
3.Miles P, True G. Reiki - Review of a biofield therapy history, theory, practice, and research. Altern Ther Health Med. 2003. Mar-Apr;9(2):62-72. PMID:12652885
4.Hassan H, Murat ZH, Ross V, Buniyamin N. A preliminary study on the effects of music on human brainwaves. 2012 International Conference on Control, Automation and Information Sciences (ICCAIS), Nov. 2012:176-180, doi:10.1109/ICCAIS.2012.6466581
5.Ann IS, Bae M. Analysis of singing bowl’s sound. J Acoust Soc Am. October 2017;142(4):2613 doi:10.1121/1.5014571