How Does Sound Healing Work? The Science Behind Sound Healing Explained

Sound healing, on its face, is not a difficult concept to understand. You let the sound waves wash over you and then reap the benefits—as a process, it’s fairly self-explanatory. But what is it that actually activates those benefits? While research on healing through sound is still evolving, scientists have already found many connections between what we hear and how we feel. This is the science behind sound healing, a still-emerging field of research that aims to fully understand the relationship between different sound frequencies and personal wellbeing.

In this blog, we’re going to go over three major ideas which can help explain how sound healing works. Each one gives us an idea of some of the tangible effects sound can have on the body, and sets the stage for further research in the near future.

Sound Healing Explained Through the Parasympathetic Nervous System

One theory for how sound healing makes us feel better is through stimulation of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve starts in the lower brain and extends down the spine to reach other vital organs in the body such as the heart and intestines. It is also a crucial part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps the mind and body to calm down after a fight-or-flight response.

Among the many functions regulated by the vagus nerve are:

• Mood
• Heart rate
• Breathing
• Digestion
• Blood pressure

Researchers believe that the vagus nerve can be stimulated by certain sound frequencies. This may include the range between 40–150 Hz, deep tones which can be reached by certain bass instruments. One particular frequency of 432 Hz, which is also believed to stimulate the vagus nerve, is already popular in sound-based wellness practices.

Stimulating the vagus nerve, and by extension the parasympathetic nervous system, can help to calm the body and mind, and may even help provide relief from symptoms of depression and anxiety. As research continues to emerge, sound bath practitioners can learn even more about how to intentionally craft soundscapes to engage the parasympathetic nervous system.

Sound Healing Explained Through Alpha Brain Waves

Another possible explanation for the benefits of a sound bath is that both the meditative environment and the sound frequencies themselves help shift your brain waves to a more relaxed state.

The brain operates through repeated electrical signals, activating in cycles at varying frequencies. These frequencies are what we call brain waves, of which there are five:

• Delta waves, which occur in states of deep sleep
• Theta waves, which occur in light sleep or deep meditative states
• Alpha waves, which occur when the brain is conscious, but highly relaxed
• Beta waves, which occur when the brain is awake and alert
• Gamma waves, which occur when the brain is highly active, like when actively learning or reasoning

Sound baths can help transition the brain out of beta waves and into alpha waves, a comfortable middle state which manifests as a feeling of mental relaxation. This can be great, especially for those who might normally have difficulty truly relaxing. However, the potential benefits extend even further. Studies have linked increases in alpha brainwaves with a variety of positive effects, including the following:

• Reducing depressive symptoms
• Reducing anxiety
• Increasing creative thinking
• Increasing attention
• Improving memory

Sound Healing Explained Through Cortisol Levels

Lastly, studies have suggested that sound-based therapies such as sound baths can lower key stress markers in the body, such as cortisol.

Cortisol is a natural hormone which, while providing many essential functions to your body, is also highly associated with stress, especially when cortisol levels get too high. Thus, in many cases, this potential lowering of cortisol levels represents decreased stress.

Low sound frequencies, such as those which you might be inundated with in a sound bath, have been associated with measurable reductions in cortisol levels, a key marker of chronic stress. This indicates that sound bathing can have a pronounced effect on the body’s stress levels.

What Now? The Continuation of Sound Bath Research

In this blog we have briefly covered a few different explanations for ways that sound affects the body on a biological level. It’s likely that the healing effects of sound baths occur due to multiple factors, so the actual explanation for how exactly sound healing works is likely complex. One thing that is clear from the research so far is that sound does impact wellness, in more ways than one.

The question of how sound healing works poses an exciting opportunity for continued research. As scientists continue to observe the interactions between sound and wellness, we can learn more about the complex mechanics at work. This, in turn, will allow sound bath practitioners to continue to refine the experience they provide—making sound healing a practice with real potential for significant growth in the coming years.

Sources

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