Sound meditation is a form of focused awareness type of meditation. One kind that has become more popular is called “sound baths”, which uses Tibetan singing bowls, quartz bowls, and bells to guide the listener. These practices highlight themes of how the experience of sound manifests not only through hearing but through tactile physical vibrations and frequencies. Science is still catching up to understanding how sound heals, but the current research is promising. A review of 400 published scientific articles on mu-sic as medicine found evidence that music has mental and physical health benefits. In fact, rhythm in particular can provide physical pain relief. One study published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine found that an hourlong sound meditation helped people reduce tension, anger, fatigue, anxiety, and depression while increasing a sense of spiritual well-being.

There are many different theories that attempt to explain why sound experiences can be linked with deep relaxation and physical pain relief. One theory is that sound works through the vibrational tactile effects on the whole body. Sound could stimulate touch fibers that affect pain perception. One study of people with fibromyalgia found that ten treatments (twice per week for five weeks) of low-frequency sound stimulation improved sleep and decreased pain, allowing nearly three-fourths of participants to reduce pain medication. Sound-based vibration treatment has been shown to help people with pain from arthritis, menstrual pain, postoperative pain, knee replacement pain. Another theory on the benefits of sound rests on the concept of “binaural beats” which hypothesizes that listening to certain frequencies can synchronize and change one’s brainwaves.

Different states of alertness and consciousness in different parts of the brain generate varying frequencies of brainwaves. Beta waves are the fastest type of brainwave and occur when the brain is active and engaged mentally. Alpha waves occur when the brain is in a state of non-arousal, such as when a person has finished a task and is resting. Theta brainwaves are associated with daydreaming and rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming phase of sleep. Theta brainwaves occur when you are in a state like driving on the freeway or are running for a long time. Delta brainwaves are the slowest and associated with deep dream-less sleep.

The premise of binaural beats is that the brain synchronizes its brainwave frequency to the difference in hertz between tones played in each ear, which, depending on the frequency, can lead one to states of deep relaxation associated with beta waves or meditative trance-like theta waves. Researchers are still trying to determine the mechanism of the healing benefits of sound, but sound in the form of vibrational therapy or meditation offers potential therapeutic benefits with low to minimal side effects.

What does the study of people with fibromyalgia suggest?