The Science of Sound: what does the research say?

“There will come a time when a diseased condition will not be described as it is today by physicians and psychologists, but will be spoken of in musical terms, as one would speak of a piano that was out of tune.”

- Rudolf Steiner

The human body is designed to be exquisitely sensitive to sound (Spence). The science behind gong baths and the effects of sound on the physical and mental aspects of the human body is understudied in the scientific field, but also an area of rapidly growing research. The science behind sound baths is a story of discovery and rediscovery, with an undoubtedly exciting future ahead.

This post explores the modern science behind sound and how it works on the body and mind during a gong bath experience. It takes into account research from scientists and sound therapists, and touches on the ancient medicine of sound from past civilizations.

To start with, there are a number of scientifically proven benefits to experiencing a gong bath. This includes a decrease in anxiety and stress, lowered heart rate and other vitals. During a sound bath when participants lie down and “bathe” in sound, the vibrations produced in the form of sound waves have a direct physical effect on the body at a cellular level. The sound waves trigger the senses through vibration.

There are frequencies of sound that are either too high or too low for the human ear to perceive, but are registered as vibrations through our nervous system. This is why during a sound bath we are hearing with our entire body, and the part that enters and is registered by your ear is only the frequency that you can hear. Ultimately, there is more going on than meets the ear. On a cellular level the vibrations produced in a gong bath can stimulate nerve endings and produce a relaxing effect. Scientifically speaking, this stems from activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.

The peripheral nervous system is divided into two systems; one for controlling involuntary functions (ANS) and the other for muscle movement, relaying information from the eyes, ears, and skin to the central nervous system (SNS).

During a gong bath, the sounds made by gongs and various other instruments, such as conch shells, drums, bells, chimes, and singing bowls, can calm the ANS putting you in rest and repair mode. Rebalancing the ANS is important for rest, and it is often thrown out of balance into a constant state of fight or flight mode in our busy, fast paces modern lives. In terms of the SNS, sound meditation can make us more aware, paying attention to how our body is feeling and what it is sensing. This can help us connect to our full selves and hold awareness of where tensions or pain might be being held in the body, so that we can work to release it, or in the case of a sound bath, alter our state and sensory input through the ears and skin.

A key element of the human body that is impacted during a gong bath is the vagus nerve. This nerve is connected to the ear. Stimulating the vagus nerve through sound practices promotes deep healing and stress reduction. It does this because it carries signals from the digestive system and organs to the brain (and vice versa), and by stimulating the vagus nerve, you can send a message to your body that it’s time to relax and restore!

Sound-based vibration treatment has been shown to increase blood circulation and lower blood pressure, helping people with arthritis, menstrual pain, and muscle stiffness. Vibrations cause the heart, brain, and respiratory rates to slow down while increasing the release of melatonin, endorphin and dopamine chemicals that are linked to feelings of expanded mental clarity (Goldsby, PhD).

Let's take a look at some of the research behind the instruments used in a sound bath. Some research suggests that vibration transferred to neuronal and immune cells through tuning forks, stimulates nitric oxide and sets off a cascading of physiological events which directly influences our health, wellbeing and consciousness. In one research study on group drumming, Dr Barry Bittman demonstrated that drumming can potentially increase the number of cancer fighting cells in the body.

Our immune globine levels rise after 20-minutes of exposure to gong and crystal bowls, and the type of sound immersion that different instruments induce during a gong bath causes deactivation of the language centre, which in turn triggers altered states of consciousness. One study conducted in 2017 on singing bowl meditation found that participants noticed a decrease in tension, anger, and fatigue, likely stemming from the suppression of the fight or flight response (Goldsby, PhD).

But what about silence? Just like in cematics, the shapes that sound forms in solids such as sand, it is the non-sound, or silence, that creates the patterns. Similarly, some research suggests that it is the space between the sounds during a gong bath that heals the nervous system, rather than purely the sound vibrations themselves. This points to the role of healing post sound bath exposure to sound.

Another lens through which to view the role of science behind sound baths is through the concept of resonance frequency. For example, every organ in the body has its own resonance frequency, and when one organ is out of tune, it affects the whole body. When having a sound bath, audible vibrations can to bring the body back into harmony and achieve “prime resonance” to restore health (Chaudhary, MD). The powerful tones from a gong can help transform weaker frequencies and vibrations within the body back to their optimal operating state.

The concept of brainwave entrainment has a direct link to this idea of optimal resonance. Brainwave entrainment refers to the brains ability to align to the frequency of a pulsating light or sound, so the frequencies produced by a gong have the ability to shift your brain into a different brainwave state. This effectively guides your mind into a completely different state of consciousness! For example, in our daily working life, we tend to operate from a beta brainwave state, where we are making decisions and doing tasks. Gong baths can shift us out of beta brainwaves states and into theta brainwave, which is usually associated with creativity and deep meditation. Sometimes people reach delta brainwave states during a sound bath. This is associated with a dreamy, sleep-like state of deep revitalization, and is sometimes associated with that moment just before you fall asleep.

As Gaynor MD points out in his book The Healing Power of Sound, when we inhabit these deeper states of awareness, particularly when we use our voices in concert with singing bowls, we entrain the rhythms of the universe and restore harmony to mind and body on cellular levels that may even effect our DNA (Gaynor). The mind, body, spirit are connected and all influence one another. I personally believe that the mystical and spiritual side of sound baths is deeply interconnected with the physical aspects, and the more I work with sound, the harder it becomes to talk about one without reference to the other. The layers of intuition and visualization incorporated into a sound bath further extend the psychological and physical healing process.

Now that we have explored some of the modern scientific research behind sound baths, let's turn briefly to ancient cultures and civilizations, and explore the topic from the vantage point of history.

Ancient cultures used music as medicine. The gong is one of the oldest man made instruments with 5,000 years of history and often played a key role in ceremonies, rituals and healing events across the world, including China, Greece, South America and Africa. The vibrations produced by a gong were believed to possess healing properties. From the ancient traditions of sound in Ayurvedic medicine, we can turn to the earliest notions of sound and the ancient philosophy of yoga to understand more about how sound and science and consciousness come together.

Through this perspective, the use of sound, such as that experienced in a gong bath, connect us to a higher state of self. The nada yoga system divides sounds into two categories; the internal (anahata) and external (ahata). Ahata sounds are the struck sounds, or the ones we perceive with our ears. The unstruck ones are the individual frequencies that we vibrate at internall, as our own being. As one researcher so eloquently puts it, when in a sound bath “the mind becomes absorbed by one's own anahata sound. It no longer listens so much as resonates, vibrating in unison with it until oneness is achieved” (Sannyasi Krishnadhyanam).

So what can we take away from all this insight? The science of sound connects us to the observations made by ancient civilizations, right up to modern day medicine. There is no doubt that more research is needed to scientific prove the benefits of sound, and bring it into the mainstream. For now, research shows strong indication that there are mental and physical benefits to participating in sound baths, including improved mood, stress relief and even physical pain relief. One can only imagine the full benefits of sound baths that perhaps our ancestors intuitively knew, and that we are yet to discover.

References:

• Melanie J. Spence, “Prenatal Maternal Speech Influences Newborns Perceptions of Speech

• The Healing Power of Sound, Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness Using Sound, Voice and

• Tuning the Human Biofield, Healing with Vibrational Sound Therapy, Eileen Day McKusick, 2014.

• Sound Medicine, How to Use the Ancient Science of Sound to Heal the Body and Mind, Kulreet Chaudhary, 2020.

• Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension and Well-being”, (2017), available at: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871151/