Neuroscience of Amplitude
The Healing Power of Sound
When I am asked why I decided to become an Acupuncturist, I often joke that synthesizers brought me to Acupuncture. There is truth to it! Learning about frequency, modulation, and amplitude through my synthesizer gave me an advantage in being able to understand the physiology of qi and how we can manipulate it with acupuncture, acupressure and other Traditional Chinese Medicine modalities.
I became interested in synthesizers through my community of musicians, and turned to them when I became isolated by illness in my early 20s. It was a way for me to immerse myself into a vivid sonic universe that I found therapeutic to the physical pain I was experiencing, as well as the uncertainty around diagnosis and the alienation I experienced as a result.
Years later, when they released the evidence-based McGill Pain Scale, I learned that the pain I was experiencing on a daily basis was equal to childbirth. Ankylosing Spondylitis was one of the few conditions that was specifically studied in the extensive research on pain at McGill. In moments where I was trapped by these levels of pain, I would turn to sound as a way to soothe, distract and endure. Sometimes it was entire discographies of a specific artist, but a lot of the time it was zen or ambient music that I turned to. As a free and accessible therapeutic tool, it was something I could turn to when I couldn’t afford or make it to treatment. Listening became an important part of my healing and recovery process, and I often wondered why it worked so well.
The ability for us to modulate our brain with sound is highly understudied and under-utilized. Sound has the ability to change the brain frequency in our brain to increase Theta waves in the brain, the brainwave most associated with meditation, relaxation, intuition and dreaming. Studies have shown that sound is a therapeutic tool that can improve relaxation, depressed mood and even decrease pain.
Traditionally, Tibetan singing bowls are used for meditation and are said to increase relaxation, positivity and even improve muscle pain. In a 2023 study, brainwaves of 17 participants were measured for 5 minutes as they listened to sounds of Tibetan singing bowls. The experiment showed that increases (up to ~251%) in the spectral magnitudes of the brain waves were dominant during the singing bowl frequencies. The observed synchronized activation of the brain waves demonstrated that the singing bowl sound facilitates meditation and relaxation, as the frequency belongs to the theta wave region, increasing the relaxed meditation state (Kim SC, Choi MJ, 2o23). Another study in 2016 demonstrated that following a sound meditation with Tibetan singing bowls participants reported significantly less tension, anger, fatigue and depressed mood. The researchers noted that, “Tibetan singing bowl meditation may be a feasible low-cost low technology intervention for reducing feelings of tension, anxiety, and depression, and increasing spiritual well-being” (Goldsby TL, Goldsby ME, McWalters M, Mills PJ., 2016).
Studies have shown that music and sound has the ability to decrease pain. One study demonstrated that music has the ability to act as an intervention for labour pain and anxiety, which leads to improvements in physiological factors, including heart rate and blood pressure. They found this to be true for participant-selected music, instrumental/relaxing styles of music, and music as part of larger interventions/combined with another non-pharmacological therapy. While the findings suggested that the therapeutic benefit may apply primarily to low-level pain, rather than acute pain, it is remarkable that decreasing even low-levels of pain shows a significant improvement for both parent and child (Hunter AR, Heiderscheit A, Galbally M, Gravina D, Mutwalli H, Himmerich H, 2023).
Are all sounds equal in their ability to decrease pain? A study on chronic cancer pain tackled this question. By comparing brain imaging of patients, the study compared imaging of patients who listened to music they preferred to imaging of patients who listened to entrainment music. Entrainment music is, in a biomusicological sense, the synchronization of organisms to an external perceived rhythm, such as music or dance. In a therapeutic sense, “Entrainment (Dileo and Bradt, 1999) utilizes live music as specified by the participant with the assistance of a trained music therapist; based upon the phenomenon of rhythmic synchrony of oscillations observed in physics, this music is designed to “entrain” with the participant’s internal experience of the pain and then shift to a healing sensation or experience.” The study observed somatosensory changes that are consistent with processing pain during entrainment-healing music that were not seen in patients who were listening to preferred music (Hunt AM, Fachner J, Clark-Vetri R, Raffa RB, Rupnow-Kidd C, Maidhof C, Dileo C., 2022). This suggests that the healing effect of music and sound is complex and has much to offer us in terms of understanding healing processes of the brain and body. How we listen, what we listen to, and why we are listening all seem to have an effect on how we are able to heal.
Listening is not the only benefit of sound and music healing. Dancing and rhythm are incredible healing tools. As we engage with sound, our brain modulates sound into movement, engaging our entire system, from nerves to muscles to lymphatics. Musical training and music-based rehabilitation have been shown to enhance cognitive functioning and neuroplasticity, especially after Traumatic Brain Injury. Neurological music therapy enhances executive functioning and induces fine-grained neuroanatomical changes in prefrontal areas (Siponkoski ST, Martínez-Molina N, Kuusela L, Laitinen S, Holma M, Ahlfors M, Jordan-Kilkki P, Ala-Kauhaluoma K, Melkas S, Pekkola J, Rodriguez-Fornells A, Laine M, Ylinen A, Rantanen P, Koskinen S, Lipsanen J, Särkämö T., 2020). A 2018 study conducted a systematic review of randomized clinical trials to investigate the benefits of dance on neuroplasticity. Of the selected studies, all demonstrated positive changes both structurally and functionally. Dancing structurally increased hippocampal volume, gray matter volume in the left precentral and parahippocampal gyrus, and white matter integrity. Functionally, dancing showed a significant improvement in memory, attention, body balance, psychosocial parameters and altered peripheral neurotrophic factor. In other words, dance integrates brain areas and improves neuroplasticity (Teixeira-Machado L, Arida RM, de Jesus Mari J., 2019).
Music, sound and music-based interventions hold promising therapeutic potentials for a wide variety of health conditions. Neuroscientific research is showing the reciprocal relationship between the neurobiological foundations of music in the brain and how musical behavior through learning and experience changes brain and behavior function (Thaut MH, 2005).
Recent evidence-based research tells us what we have known for millennia – music is medicine. Through listening and dance, we can shift our nervous system and brain from pain, stress, anxiety, illness to healing, relaxation and neuroplasticity. We can reshape our internal landscape with ancient technology that is freely available to us - if we just listen.
By listening and dancing, we can transform ourselves and each other.
References:
Dileo C., Bradt J. (1999). “Entrainment, resonance, and pain-related suffering,” in Music Therapy & Medicine: Theoretical and Clinical Applications, ed. Dileo C. (Silver Spring, MD: American Music Therapy Association; ), 181–188. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006787.pub2/abstract
Goldsby TL, Goldsby ME, McWalters M, Mills PJ. Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-being: An Observational Study. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Jul;22(3):401-406. doi: 10.1177/2156587216668109. Epub 2016 Sep 30. PMID: 27694559; PMCID: PMC5871151. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5871151/
Thaut MH. The future of music in therapy and medicine. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Dec;1060:303-8. doi: 10.1196/annals.1360.023. PMID: 16597779. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16597779/
Hunt AM, Fachner J, Clark-Vetri R, Raffa RB, Rupnow-Kidd C, Maidhof C, Dileo C. Neuronal Effects of Listening to Entrainment Music Versus Preferred Music in Patients With Chronic Cancer Pain as Measured via EEG and LORETA Imaging. Front Psychol. 2021 Feb 25;12:588788. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588788. Erratum in: Front Psychol. 2022 Feb 22;13:866996. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.866996. PMID: 33716859; PMCID: PMC7947245. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33716859/
Hunter AR, Heiderscheit A, Galbally M, Gravina D, Mutwalli H, Himmerich H. The Effects of Music-Based Interventions for Pain and Anxiety Management during Vaginal Labour and Caesarean Delivery: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Nov 29;20(23):7120. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20237120. PMID: 38063550; PMCID: PMC10706633. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10706633/
Kim SC, Choi MJ. Does the Sound of a Singing Bowl Synchronize Meditational Brainwaves in the Listeners? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jun 19;20(12):6180. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20126180. PMID: 37372766; PMCID: PMC10298245. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10298245/
Siponkoski ST, Martínez-Molina N, Kuusela L, Laitinen S, Holma M, Ahlfors M, Jordan-Kilkki P, Ala-Kauhaluoma K, Melkas S, Pekkola J, Rodriguez-Fornells A, Laine M, Ylinen A, Rantanen P, Koskinen S, Lipsanen J, Särkämö T. Music Therapy Enhances Executive Functions and Prefrontal Structural Neuroplasticity after Traumatic Brain Injury: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial. J Neurotrauma. 2020 Feb 15;37(4):618-634. doi: 10.1089/neu.2019.6413. Epub 2019 Dec 5. PMID: 31642408. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31642408/
Teixeira-Machado L, Arida RM, de Jesus Mari J. Dance for neuroplasticity: A descriptive systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019 Jan;96:232-240. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.12.010. Epub 2018 Dec 10. Erratum in: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024 Dec 5:105331. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105331. PMID: 30543905. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30543905/