The Healing Frequency?

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

No one would argue the power music can have on mood. There is even evidence that musical exposure to fetuses has a positive impact on neural development. Music is powerful. And now there is buzz about a particular musical sound frequency that promotes healing. That frequency? 528 Hz.*
 
Is this for real? A study published in 2018 in Scientific Research did, indeed, find this to be the case:
 
“Results suggest that the influence of music on the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system varies depending on the frequency of the music, and furthermore, that 528 Hz music has an especially strong stress-reducing effect, even following only five minutes of exposure.”
 
If “stress-reducing” equals healing, then there appears to be promising evidence.
 
I’d heard about this 528 Hz phenomenon but had never done any research beyond a quick click around on the internet. But then today I got an email from Relaxx, the mindfulness and meditation app available to all Northern Light employees and spouses, announcing the addition of a whole 528 Hz music section in the meditation line-up. I decided to put it to the test then and there because the conditions were ripe. Today, the day I am writing this, is Monday morning, my first day back after a week off. With a loaded inbox and a Rocks & Water column I hadn’t even started, I was in a prime stress state for experimentation.
 
It took all my discipline to sit there for 8 minutes “doing nothing” when there was such a backlog of stuff to do but, in the interest of science and the possibility that it would help, I did. My experience: as I listened I began to notice having a feeling of vibration. All sound is vibration, but there was something particularly vibratory about this sensation, which I felt as kind of an underlying hum in my ear. I sat there for the entire 8 minutes with that hum in my ear and now here I am in a pretty chill state writing this column. Does 528 Hz have anything to do with it? Whether it was the hertz or a solidly beneficial placebo response, I recommend signing up for Relaxx and giving it a try if you haven’t already! It’s all there for you. Click on the links below to:
 
Find out more about Relaxx
View the mobile app account activation instructions
View the web app account activation instructions
Take a tour of the app

On that high frequency note, off we go into another brave new day,
 
E
 
*For reference, Hz stands for hertz, a unit of the frequency of cycles per second. For example, 528 Hz means there are 528 changes per second in the alternating electric currents, electromagnetic waves and sound.