Sounds to Cure Ills

Sounds to Cure Ills: Weird or What?

An Internet search can render a plethera of information – some good, some bad, and some, just weird.  One of my recent exploits falls under the latter category (at least to me).  I seem to have been remiss in not using sounds to cure ills and a myriad of disorders, something that most certainly could have improved my financial bottom line, other than just amplifying sound through the use of hearing aids.

For example, I have obviously lost out on taking advantage of my patients listening to sound to:

• Relieve stress and headaches listening to binaural beats and pink noise
• Lose fat cells with white noise
• Facial toning weightloss listening to binaural beats plus isochronic tones
• Nerve regeneration treatment listening to isochronic tones and binaural beats
• Detox 1 (1 Hr. binaural & Ssochronic Beats for Detoxification 0.5 Hz & 528 Hz Solfeggio)
• Muscle growth using Ssochronic Tones and brainwave entrainment meditation
• Lung repair and treatment listening to binaural beats
• Metabolism repair listening to rife frequencies
• Anti aging frequency listening to brainwave entrainment binaural beats
• Grow taller by stimulating the pituitary gland to release growth harmones using 31.32 Hz

The above are merely a sampling of the disorders that listening to different kinds of sounds can remedy according to new age spirituality.  This post does not endorse any of the above or others promoting similar treatment and/or results. 

This post serves to show what some people may be exposed to when it comes to the use of sound for other than communication.  There is obviously a population that follows principles of sound therapy to help with meditation, emotional and physical healing, brain toners, relaxation, sleep aids, work aids, study aids, creativity enhancers, chakra activation, lucid dreaming, and astral projection.  But, there is an industry that claims the use of music can stimulate a variety of actual pharmaceuticals (Demerol, Oxycotin, and Vicodin), or regardless of the superpower one is seeking, there is a binaural beat audio file that claims to help you achieve your goal.  This even extends to remedies for medical problems.

Do any of these really work?  You can listen to some of the sound stimulation by clicking on the links above, and you can come to your own conclusion, which I suspect will be steeped in scientific inquiry.

What Are Some of the Sounds Used?

That which follows provides a brief description of some of the main sounds used, followed by paraphrasing a skeptic’s (Brian Dunning) explanation as to why they do not work{{1}}[[1]]Dunning, B. Skeptoid, critical analysis of pop phenomena, skeptoid.com[[1]].

Schumann Resonances –  This is the name given to the resonant frequency of the Earth’s atmosphere, named for the German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann (1888-1974).  These are the resonant frequencies of the earth’s atmosphere – that between the earth’s surface and the densest part of the ionosphere.  Lightening, constantly flashing all around the world and acting as a radio source, results in a continuously resonating frequency of 7.83 Hz, with progressively weaker harmonics at 14.3, 20.8, 27.3, and 33.8 Hz.  These resonances are an artifact of this physical dimension relationship between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere.  In fact, every planet and moon having an ionosphere will have its own set of Schumann resonances.  On earth, the resonance fluctuates depending on the density of the ionosphere at any given time.

It is difficult to find alternative medicine products that do not cite the Schumann resonances, claiming these as proof of the product or service being based on scientific evidence.  It is interesting how often the number 7.83 Hz comes up as a miracle frequency to health and wellness.

An example is the power balance bracelet used for health and sports performance, claiming that the bracelet would resonate at 7.83 Hz, and when placed within the body’s natural energy field, your energy field would be set to the same frequency.  The problem is that it is implausible, by a factor of billions, to anyone who understands resonance.

Take Away – Be skeptical of any product, service, website, or sales person who uses the Schumann resonance as part of a sales pitch.

Figure 1. Binaural Beats : Sine wave generators are used to create two separate frequency waves which are introduced to each ear independently. The brain reacts by creating a third tone, which is the difference between the two. This allows the brain to directly tune into a frequency that the ear cannot actually hear. Binaural beats require the use of stereo headphones or earphones to be effective.

Binaural Beats – Binaural beats were discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in 1839.  These consist of slightly different frequencies, played separately to each ear (Figure 1).  For example, playing a 500 Hz tone in one ear and a 510 Hz tone in the other, would produce the perception of an interference beat having a frequency of 10 Hz, just as if the 10 Hz had been physically created.  It is doubtful that Dove ever imagined that binaural beats would become an Internet model of an alternative medicine community to solve a myriad of human problems ranging from headache relief to anti-aging to nerve regeneration.

The proponents of binaural beats cite using the Schumann Resonance frequencies with binaural beats, generating the phantom beat frequency of 7.83 Hz (or one of he other Schumann resonances).  The problem is using audio waves to attempt to affect brain wave activity can not be understood scientifically.  Others claim an entrainment can occur with binaural beats when two systems that oscillate at different frequencies synchronize with one another, at whatever the combined systems’ resonanting frequency is.  Examples of this occurs with crickets chirping or frogs croaking.  Claims are that the perceived low-frequency beat will entrain your brain wave pattern and force you into some kind of desired state.

Truthfully, we know that people can listen to different kinds of music and be affected.  Play lists on iPods™ can be used to keep a person energized.  Certain music can be used to help one sleep, shop, to relax, or to change one’s mood.  Therefore, binaural beats would be expected to do the same.  As such, the connection to the brain by binaural beats is no different than what can be expected from any other music – except for the power of suggestion.  If nothing else, a variety of binaural beats can provide for some very interesting sounds.

Isochronic Tones – Isochronic tones are regular beats of a single tone that are used alongside monaural beats and binaural beats in the process called brainwave entrainment. At its simplest level, an isochronic tone is a tone that is being turned on and off rapidly. They create sharp, distinctive pulses of sound (Wikipedia).

Rife Frequencies – These high frequency radio frequencies were generated by a machine built for Dr. Rife in 1936.  The frequencies would devitalize the disease organisms, believing that every disease organism had a frequency range and could be affected by its “window of vulnerability.”  Each disease had its own center frequency, and the RF (radio frequency) signal match would be used to eradicate the disease.  Diseases having specific frequencies were cancer, spinal meningitis, syphilis, tetanus, tuberculosis, typhoid, anthrax, gonorrhea, among others.  However, when listening to what are described as Rife frequencies, they are obviously not high, but fairly low in frequency.  These may be incorrectly believed to be Dr. Rife’s true frequencies.