Exploring the Transformative Power of Sound Therapy

Does the realm of sound fascinate you? Do you consider it to be something more than an everyday auditory experience?

If your answer to these questions is yes, then you may find interesting the healing aspect of sound, i.e., sound therapy. In this article, we will take you through the essentials of sound healing and help you understand better if this is the right therapy for you.

It utilizes sounds from specific instruments to induce a sense of relaxation and healing among the recipients. Sound therapy may also include vocals that have a soothing effect on your mind. You may either attend a sound therapy session in person or hear the recorded sounds from a device. Common instruments used for it include tuning forks, Himalayan singing bowls, gongs, and crystal bowls.

Having been introduced to the basics of sound healing therapy, let us now have a look at its supposed benefits.

Sound therapy is claimed to help you with a number of physical and emotional issues, including:

Tinnitus often shows up in the form of a persistent ringing in the ears but may also be experienced as a buzzing or roaring sound. Sound healing is believed to help improve the symptoms of tinnitus by reversing the neural changes in the brain that produce them or by drowning out the undesirable sounds resulting from them.

You can avail of the benefits of sound therapy for improving tinnitus in different ways:

• Smartphone apps that play soothing sounds.
• A radio or a table fan can help drown out that ringing sound.
• Sound generators that fit into your ears, just like hearing aids.

Autism includes a number of conditions, like autism spectrum disorder, commonly characterized by difficulty communicating and establishing social connections. Proponents of sound therapy claim that it can help improve the abnormal sensitivity towards sound that children and adults with autism may have. There are three different types of sound therapies that are used for autism:

1. Auditory Integration Therapy: Based on electronically filtered music containing a wide range of frequencies.
2. Samonas Sound Therapy: recorded sounds of nature and human voices played through a headset.
3. Tomatis Method: electronically altered human voice coupled with music and customized as per individual requirements.

However, there isn’t clear scientific evidence that supports the effectiveness of sound therapy for improving the issues related to autism spectrum disorders.

According to a study done on 120 heart bypass surgery patients (aged 45–65) who were gradually weaned off of mechanical ventilation support, sound therapy may be able to reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

Here, a group of patients (the intervention group) were subjected to nature-based sounds through headphones, while the other group was not (the control group). The intervention group was found to experience lower levels of anxiety and agitation as compared to the control group, highlighting the effectiveness of sound healing therapy.

Sound therapy may be beneficial for stress reduction, according to an experimental study in which three groups of participants were subjected to nature-based sounds, silence, and classical music, respectively. It was observed that the group that listened to nature-based sounds experienced a reduction in muscular tension, pulse rate, and stress as compared to the other two groups.

Apart from the sounds of nature, you may try music based on Celtic, Native American, and Indian stringed instruments, as well as drums and flutes, to achieve a sense of relaxation and stress reduction.

Sound therapy is believed to improve both acute and chronic pain by encouraging the release of endorphins, which are our bodies’ natural pain-relieving chemicals and also responsible for promoting a sense of well-being.

Nature-based sounds and sights were linked to reduced pain during an invasive procedure (flexible bronchoscopy), according to a study conducted on 80 adult patients. This indicates the potential effectiveness of sound therapy when used along with conventional pain management medications.

Now that you are familiar with the benefits of sound healing, let us next get to its different types.

There are multiple options that you can choose from when it comes to sound therapy. We will cover some of the popular ones here.

This relaxing technique bathes your body and mind with resonant soothing sounds generated from gongs, bells, tuning forks, sound healing bowls, or even the human voice. You have to lie down comfortably and focus on the healing sound waves engulfing you. The duration of a typical sound bath session can range from 15 to 60 minutes, and mantra chanting may also be present.

There are different tuning forks that vibrate with specific frequencies that help you attain inner balance and promote wellness of the body, mind, and spirit. The practitioner may place the tuning fork directly on your body or hold it in the air close to your ears, depending on its type, i.e., weighted or non-weighted. Some common frequencies that the tuning forks are based on include those related to chakra healing, natural frequencies of the human organs, and the Fibonacci frequencies.

It is a widely known and accepted fact that music can help reduce stress and uplift your mood. Music therapy can take different forms: listening to recorded melodies, playing musical instruments, singing, or composing music. Music is considered to affect different parts of your brain, which are related to processing emotions and generating feelings of reward and pleasure. You can undergo music therapy either on an individual basis or as part of group therapy sessions.

This type of sound healing therapy utilizes two different frequencies that, when processed together by your brain, result in an experience of a binaural beat (having a frequency equal to the difference between the two given frequencies).

Through the use of headphones, you can achieve this by playing two distinct tones in your right and left ears. Various kinds of binaural beats exist that may affect you in different ways—increasing concentration, promoting creativity, or helping with sleep and healing.

Apart from the traditional methods based on gongs and crystal bowls sound healing, there is a relatively innovative technique called vibroacoustic therapy. It uses low-frequency sound waves emitted from specially designed beds, chairs, mats, or wristbands that you are supposed to use during the therapy. The frequency range varies from 30 Hz to 120 Hz and is believed to positively affect the brain and the nervous system.

Before concluding this introduction to sound therapy, let us have a quick look at what you should keep in mind when going ahead with sound therapy sessions.

While it may sometimes get tricky to decide which form of sound therapy will be best for you, it ultimately depends on your personal preference and convenience. Whichever type you choose, it is recommended to consult your doctor before starting the sessions if you have any physical or mental health issues.

Moreover, try finding an experienced sound therapy practitioner and discussing thoroughly with them your objectives and expectations for this healing technique.

This way, you will be able to avail yourself of the best benefits of sound frequency healing and employ it to achieve wellness in the mind, body, and spirit.