Have you ever sung a song so deeply until you started crying for reasons you couldn’t explain? We also know the easiest way to get a new born baby to sleep is through singing them a lullaby. It soothes them, yet, they don’t understand the words. Have you ever wondered why? Well, psychoacoustics is the same concept being used on adults except we are not being lured to sleep. We are getting healed.
Let us discuss this concept further.
What is Psychoacoustics?
Scientifically, we define this as a branch of psychophysics that studies sound perception and audiology. That is; how the pressure waves enter the human ear and the system that gets these acoustical signals converted into hearing. This system involves the brain. Eventually these sound waves emerge as knowledge, sensations or simply perceptions.
In layman’s language, it’s basically trying to understand how people perceive various sounds.
The History of Sound Healing
Long before man could describe music in notes, sound existed. When wind blew past the trees, or the birds woke up chanting, man called that music. Then eventually archeologists and anthropologists left communications on the walls of the Sumerian caves with special accents similar to modern musical notes. These have long been borrowed by different communities such as the French accent grave, and accent aigue.
Later, ancient Greek physicians used lyres, flutes and zitters to heal sick patients with digestion problems, mental disturbances and insomnia. Aristotle also wrote his book “De Anima” as early as 323 BCE, arguing that flute music could purify the soul.
By end 19th century, Diogel of Paris Salpetriere Hospital published research that proved music had positive effects on pulse rate, cardiac output, blood pressure and respiratory rate. And that’s when researchers went in full force.
On the other hand, religious believers and shamans also had their own practices involving the use of sound. We evolved to breath-work, meditation, chanting, and toning, all as traditional approaches to invoke the power of sound. Several ancient influencers such as the Egyptian Hermes, and the Hindu cow goddess Vac, all put emphasis on music and the sound of the human voice. We also saw the rise of the Tibetian singing bowls, fork tuning and several other community practices all aimed at tapping into the healing forces of sound. How far have we progressed?
Application of Psychoacoustics Today
The medicine of the future is very near today. We are already experiencing several practical non-invasive technologies, and this includes sound therapy.
See, when you experience sound vibrations, it’s so powerful that it penetrates deep into your DNA. Now these sounds have select pieces of orderliness that merge together with disorderliness in the recipient to create the perfect harmony as they resonate. Eventually, this resonance causes change that leads to a reset. The reset is simply an organization of the DNA, or your brain, or your body as a whole, since some form of music is a pure source of order.
Some other form of music, however, could cause more harm. Like the vibrations from an opera singer that are too high pitched they cause the glass windows to shatter. But this shouldn’t worry you because the human body cells are more flexible and they actually enjoy these sound vibrations. Moreover, human bones and the human body are excellent conductors of sound.
I know you are wondering what causes this disorderliness. Well, it starts from our lifestyle; what we eat and drink to where we live. We are born with pure order but along the way, we lose it. We don’t eat well, we barely sleep, and we don’t have time to exercise and so on. Now the introduction of Psychoacoustics re-trains our bodies to reclaim the pure order we were born with.
The experts apply specific sounds for specific disorderliness and general sounds for general symptoms. These sound technologies simply aim at introducing vibrations externally to remind our DNA what pure order looks like. With repetitive therapy, the body will eventually work towards reclaiming the orderly you.
Case Study – The Lithotripter
Medics are now using sound waves to break kidney stones. It’s a simple and straight forward approach where you are admitted in the morning and by evening you are discharged. The Lithotripter produces a specific sound frequency for an hour or two (depending on the condition of the patient), which breaks down the kidney stones. These now pulverized stones are then release normally via urine.
This process is so gentle that we don’t require any anesthesia. And most people, only require one session. Here we see that through the use of sound resonance we can bring back the human body into harmony and avoid the need for surgery or even drugs.
Other Benefits of Psychoacoustics
In addition to restoring specific conditions, generally, patients of Psychoacoustics will benefit from the following:
- Reduced pain and inflammation
- Shrinking ovarian cysts
- Disappearing kidney stones
- Improved joint mobility
- Better sleep patterns
- Reduced headaches – From chronic to mild
- Better concentration and memory
- Deep relaxation
- And a positive attitude towards life
It’s also important to mention that sound doesn’t only work through vibrations that produce resonance. But rather the heightened level of consciousness we experience during sound therapy. Having to focus your mind and thoughts on a particular repetitive sound helps us transcend to the higher beings we’re meant to be. This way, we can achieve greater focus and clarity in life and therefore induce our body cells to the state where healing starts; just like we do with meditation and Yoga.
In addition, you must have realized that each one of us has a particular genre of music they like; one that puts them into a deep state of relaxation. Still, this works on the same principles as above. Some rhythms will have more power over you depending on your current state in life.
Conclusion
Everything in the universe is just vibration. We are also a body of sound. As we wait for science to progress, we can harness the power of the many vibration tools available to man: from those used in ancient traditions (singing bowls), to the more modern sources of sound. Even if you don’t do it for health purposes, engage music and intentional sounds to relax and get yourself into a deep state of meditation.