Sound Vibrations Can Alter Cells

In this video, Dr. Lee Bartel (Professor Emeritus of Music and Health and Music Education and at the University of Toronto) takes us through his discovery and research on using sound vibrations to effect healing.

The principle of entrainment in physics is about how one rhythmic vibrating object will synchronize with another.

So he used that idea to create music that will affect our brain waves – with a specific rhythmic structure to help us go to sleep, relax, focus etc. Then he realized he could do this by using a single sound. For example:

Low E – 40 Hz (low frequency pitch, can also be felt as a vibration) – can reduce pain, and reduce Alzheimers symptoms.

Sounds have a rhythmic structure that allow them to impact cells in your body. HOW?

Sounds are vibrations; molecular compressions in the air that come to your ear or skin (if you feel it as vibration). Here’s a great visual demonstration of sound as vibration:

Hair cells in the cochlea (ear) translate these vibrations (molecular compressions) into electric signals, and the auditory nerve cells carry these electrical signals to the brain.

The waves per second are a feature of the frequency of the sound wave. When we talk about using frequencies to create a reality – magnetize an outcome, facilitate healing, etc – the waves per second, or Hertz, is an important component to be aware of.

How are Hertz & brainwaves determined?

If a click (molecular compression) coming to our ear has 1 click per second, that is 1 Hz. If it has 5 clicks per second, that is 5 Hz, 40 clicks = 40 Hz, and so on.

Brainwaves are determined in the same way, so 40 waves per second, will equal 40 Hz and be called Gamma. Because Gamma is the brainwave range from 30-100 Hz.

The interesting thing is that the frequency at which neurons in the brain like to connect, and respond most easily, is 40 Hz.

Dr. Bartel developed an acoustic chair with 6 speakers, so that the person sitting in it would not only hear the 40 Hz sound, but would also feel it as a vibration.

In the video, Dr. Bartel also presents some case studies on using sound vibration to improve symptoms in patients with Alzheimers and Fibromyalgia.

What frequency do bees produce?

Interestingly, I was up at my wilderness ranch near Vernon BC and bees kept flying super fast in circles around me. I couldn’t figure out what they wanted from me, so at one point I just began to copy their sound. Was their sound made by their wings, or?? I had no idea. But as different bees circled me and I toned/sang to match their sound, I realized that they made 3 different tones. I don’t know which notes they were, but they were all in the lower register.

The Singing Horse Ranch near Vernon, BC

Once I matched their sound and toned along with them, the bee would stop being so frantic. I would eventually stop singing/toning and all would be quiet for a minute or so and then the next super fast bee circling would begin! This went on for almost 2 hours. Was bee asking me to sing to the land? Or to sing to balance myself, or bring myself into harmony with bee and land? I don’t know.

A few days later I went looking for information on bees and sound vibration. In this article, I learned that:

“Bees generate sound not only through movement of their wings but also with their thoracic muscles. Although they use these muscles to move their wings, they can uncouple their wings to produce heat and generate acoustic signals. Honey bees produce many frequencies of vibration and sound – from less than 10 to more than 1000 Hz.”

When bees perform their ‘waggle dance’ (informs other bees about directions and distance to food) they produce sounds using both their wings and abdomen. Their body moves in 15 Hz waggling motions, while their wings vibrate in short pulses at 200-300 Hz. For normal flight, bees wings have been recorded from 160 – 250 Hz.

“I brought my brood hive recording to Professor Chang at the University of Colorado School of Music for an explanation of the sound. Professor Chang determined that the sound was an “E3 about 165 Hz with a variance that goes down a perfect fourth and up around a half step.” – Valerie Solheim, Ph.D, Bees Healing Bees

Dr. Solheim is a Jungian psychologist and beekeeper who uses the humming sounds of bees in her hives as an integral part of her sessions with clients. Using the same principles Dr. Bartel talks about, of vibrational resonance and entrainment.

The more time I spend with nature and animals, the more I realize that ALL of nature is speaking to us… from the tiniest insect, to the marmot in the woodpile, to the tallest tree, and the fungi on the ground. Are we listening?