The Therapeutic power of Vocal Sound

How vocal sound positively affects every cell in your body and the cells of everyone in your close proximity

The human voice has the power to:

fill a concert hall, without a microphone
the power to support illness, both in our- selves and in others
the power to inspire people by transform- ing thoughts and feel- ings into words and sounds.

Nurse Olivia Neufelder sang ‘Dancing in the Sky’ to Margaret Smith, as she suffered from the side effects of too much anaesthetic in Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Margaret called Olivia her “angel”.

Generating Amplified Thoughts

The human voice also has the power to leave this Earthly realm and travel to the stars.

When we speak or sing or tone, we are actually generating amplified thoughts; thoughts that originate in our minds and give rise to electromagnetic signals contained within our brain. Yet those same thoughts become hugely amplified and transcribed into sound every time we speak, sing or tone. In this way, our thoughts can be shared with the world. But what if our words were transformed into light?

The light would zip through the atmosphere and carry our amplified thoughts to the stars. Is this some new high-tech science or maybe even science fiction? Actually it is science fact, although not commonly known. And you don’t need fancy equipment to convert words or song to light; your voice is all you need.

The basic principles are straightforward and by the end of this article you will understand the special relationship between sound and light and how your voice can reach the stars. You will also learn how your voice voice speaks the language of cells that positively affects every cell in your body and the cells of people in your close proximity..

While scientists agree that sound and light are different phenomena, much confusion exists among the general public

*Colors of light are shown alongside their corresponding Ångström numbers. The Ångström is a measurement of length equal*

concerning the true relationship between these two forms of energy. For example, online articles often appear in which a particular sound frequency is multiplied by forty octaves in an attempt to identify its equivalent light ‘color.’

In this chart, colors of light are shown alongside their corresponding Ångström numbers (named after the Swedish.

The Nature of Sound

Sound in air is the transfer of periodic vibrations between adjacent colliding atoms or molecules.

To build a foundation of understanding concerning the physics of sound, let us first define sound.

Sound in air is the transfer of periodic vibrations between adjacent colliding atoms or molecules.

That might sound rather grand but basically it simply means that when atomic particles bump into their neighbors they pass on their vibrations. (Remember that air is a mixture of gases in which oxygen and nitrogen consist of individual atoms while carbon dioxide consists of molecules.) This transfer of vibrations between two adjacent atoms or molecules, is known as ‘sound.’

The energy in a sound event, for example someone toning, expands away from the mouth and nose equally in all directions, as a bubble. This sound bubble naturally expands at the speed of sound, which is 768 miles an hour at 68 degrees F (20 degrees C), at sea level, and its outer ‘surface’ is in a state of radial pulsation or oscillation, meaning that it is expanding and contracting. The bubble’s pulsations are actually the same as those created by the vocal folds in the larynx. In fact, the pulsations of the bubble are the sound.

At this point you might be thinking “But what about sound waves?” Actually, the model of ‘sound waves’ is incompleteas well as a misnomer because it refers to the graphical representation of the mathematical law of the sound energy. While the term ‘sound waves’ is correct in terms of its graphical representation it is not how sound actually propagates or travels

The concept of sound as a wave is simply a label used to describe the fact that sound bubbles pulsate in and out rhythmically. It is this pulsation of the bubble’s outer surface that is typically illustrated as a wave-like graph.

Put differently, when teachers and scientists describe sound as a wave they are referring to its rhythmic pulsation depicted graphically, not its actual shapein space. The result of this confusion is that most people incorrectly visualize sounds wiggling their way through the air rather than visualizing beautiful, shimmering sound bubbles.

In this illustration, a sound bubble has been halved to permit its internal structure to be seen. The sound event that created the bubble is in the center.

All sounds contain areas of high pressure and low pressure, called compressions and rarefactions. The illustration shows these areas as dense blue hemispheres for high pressure and pale blue hemispheres for low pressure.

If you look closely at the drawing you will see dotted lines rising out of the bottom half of the bubble and connecting with awave graph in the middle. This illustrates clearly where the term ‘sound waves’ comes from: the wave-like graph of sound is a mathematical representation of an actual sound bubble. Many scientific textbooks illustrate the spherical nature of sound, even though they continue to use the term ‘sound waves’ for acoustic energy that has a bubble-like space form. A good example is the Master Handbook of Acoustics. The chapter heading on page 83 is: “Sound Waves in the Free Field”, yet on page 85 there is a drawing showing the spherical nature of sound.

Holographic Sound Principles

The human voice, whether in speechor singing, is a good example of a complex sound source that contains many frequencies.

To build a deeper foundation of understanding, when sound travels through air, every atom or molecule in the path of the expanding sound bubble is involved in the process of passing on the sound vibrations, rather like the game where dominos are set up in a long row and each domino bumps into its nearest neighbor, and sets off

a chain reaction of movement. In air, the vibrations that originate with the atoms and molecules in direct contact with the sound source pass on their vibrations to their nearest neighbors and the chain reaction begins, spreading out as a bubble of sound.

As an example, if a sound source produces a single frequency tone (for example when you make an ‘oo’ vowel sound withyour voice) the periodic motion of every atom and molecule in the sound bubble will be of that same single periodicity and that single vibration will be passed on with each collision that occurs. On the other hand, if the sound is complex, with a multiplicity of frequencies of vibration, (for example if you make an ‘ee’ vowel sound, which is quite complex and rich in harmonics) the atoms and molecules will each carry this complex array of periodicities.

To better visualize how a single atom can carry such complex periodic motions, imagine holding an apple and moving it slowly back and forth. (Let’s say that the apple represents an atom in the air surrounding your larynx). Next imagine quickly wobbling the apple as it moves slowly back and forth. The apple/atom is now

vibrating in two different ways simultaneously. Now imagine that same principle extended until the apple/atom is moving in a hundred different ways simultaneously. (Not easy to imagine, but I think the point is made). This is how atoms and molecules carry all the vibrations and uniqueness of a voice, or of any sound. And when an atom bumps into its nearest neighbor all of those different vibrations are transferred to the neighboring atoms. The human voice, whether in speech or singing, is a good example of a complex sound source that contains many frequencies. What begins in the larynx as a small high pressure (fairly monotone) spherical pearl of sound energy, rapidly expands into the mouth and sinus cavities where complex nuances are added by the tongue, lips and resonance of the sinus spaces, adding to the complexity of the vibrations and forming a given word or sound.

The word began as a thought, but now that thought has been transcribed to a sound bubble that emerges from the mouth and nose. Its outer spherical edge shimmers due to every atom and molecule vibrating in unison. If you have a cold and your nose is blocked, the bubble emerges with a different tonal quality and the character of your voice will be modified accordingly.

A single atom can vibrate with all the complex vibrations that make your voice unique to you.

But either way, the data in the bubble is, effectively, an amplified thought.

How many atomic particles are needed to represent your unique voice? Amazingly the answer is ‘one’. As mentioned above, a single atom can vibrate with all the complex vibrations that make your voice unique to you. Therefore, sound can be said to exhibit holographic principles because every atomic particle in a sound bubble contains all the vibrational data of the sound source.

One mathematical definition of ‘holographic’ (reported by Andrew Zimmerman Jones from original work by Gerard ‘t Hooft and Leonard Susskind) is that: The total information contained in a volume of space corresponds to an equal amount of information contained on the surface of that space.2 This definition precisely describes the sonic data within a sound bubble and at all

points on its periphery; therefore, sound can be said to embody holographic principles.

In the previous illustration a single sound bubble is seen emerging from the woman’s mouth and nose. In reality this primary bubble would diffract backwards within a millisecond of its creation and the sound bubble would totally surround the woman’s head; but for the sake of clarity only the primary bubble is shown. The bubble’s surface pattern depicts the harmonic content (the timbre or tonal quality) of her voice.

Having summarized the nature of sound let us now explore the phenomenon of light in order to understand the special relationship between sound and light, which will lead to understanding how your songs reach the stars and how your voice speaks the language of cells.

The Nature of Light

Visible light is electromagnetism across a range of frequencies.

Visible light is electromagnetism of a particular frequency or, to be more accurate, a range of frequencies. The chart at the end of the introduction section of this article illustrates this point very well. Since light frequencies are such big numbers it is more convenient to express them in Ångströms, which is a measure of the distance moved by light as it pulsates and is commonly referred to as its ‘wave length.’ However, in common with sound, light usually propagates as a bubble sothe term ‘wave length’ can be misleading.

*Vocal collisions of atoms and molecules result in the creation of infrared light*

The only exceptionto the spherical nature of lightis laser light, which generates what is termed “coherent light”in which all the vibrations of the magnetic energy are aligned or “in phase” with each other, whereas light in Nature could be termed “incoherent light” or “natural light” because its vibrations are randomly generated by the light source. Summarizing: natural light propagates as a bubble, whereas coherent light propagates as a single ray.

In a nutshell, light is created as atoms collide.

Although the precise nature of electromagnetism is unknown to science, in essence, it is magnetism that is vibrating (although no one knows what magnetism is!) Light is created when static magnetism begins to vibrate sufficiently fast, or expressed differently, when static magnetism becomes ‘modulated magnetism.’

Every atom has a magnetic moment—a magnetic force field—and when this force field collides with the force field around another atom two important things happen: first, there is a transfer of the periodic motions between the atoms—that we earlier defined as sound. The second, almost magical, thing that happens is that light is created.

In fact, when collisions occur between atoms

or molecules there must be a release oflight, generally known as ‘electromagnetic radiation’. So, in a nutshell, light is createdas atoms collide, but unlike sound, which needs a medium to travel in, the light radiates away from the site of the collisions without needing a medium; that is, light can travel through the vacuum of space. (In physics the atomic collisions that create light are termed ‘inelastic collisions’).

If this all sounds rather technical please stay with me because what comes next is the key to how your songs reach the stars and speak the language of cells.

The frequency of light created by atoms as they bump into each other is a function of the temperature of the atoms (how fast they are vibrating individually and collectively). Light created by atomic collisions in which the temperatures are too low to create visible light will create infrared light. At even lower energy states, for instance with a gentle caress of the skin, hypothetically, microwave radio frequencies will be created.

This could be why caresses can feel like electricity: such gentle touches may spark low level microwaves into existence. Onthe other hand, when the temperature is extremely high it is well-tested theory that X-ray and Gamma-ray radiation is created. In simple terms, the physical temperature of an object determines the wavelength of the radiation it emits.

We are now ready to provide the answer to the question, howour songs reach the stars. As mentioned earlier, sonic bubbles expand at approximately 768 miles an hour. Each collision within the sound bubble creates friction between the magnetic shells surrounding the atomic particles, which create heat, which is another name for infrared electromagnetism, otherwise known as light.

Try this simple experiment: Rub your hands vigorously together and then place them over your closed eyes. You will feel warmth. The molecules that form the skin of your left hand slipped past the molecules that form the skin of your right hand. To be more accurate, the magnetic shells surrounding those molecules slipped past each other. The result is heat.

A similar phenomenon occurs every time you speak, sing or tone: trillions of atomic collisions not only carry your voice away through the air, they also create a tiny amount of heat, technically known as

infrared light. The heat produced by your voice fluctuates in sympathy with the sound of your words. This simple mechanism transcribes your words into modulated infrared light that rushes away at the amazing speed of 186,000 miles per second.

While the acoustic energy in your voice bubble falls off rapidly with distance, it is not the case for the infrared bubble created by your voice. The infrared energy created by the sound of your voice propagates independently of air (remember that electromagnetism does not need a medium to travel in) and heat is not significantly attenuated by air particles. Therefore, the infrared bubble travels relatively unimpeded through the atmosphere to outer space, where theory tells us it will travel forever4 unless it encounters some dense matter. So, your words and songs should, one day, reach the stars.

At this point you might be wondering, if we can sing to the stars shouldn’t the stars be able to sing to us? The stars do indeed bathe the earth in their ‘song’. The same principle that transcribes our vocalized sounds to modulated infrared light (colliding atoms that create heat and carry sonic modulations) is also occurring in stars, and the stars are radiating their “songs” across the Universe in both the infrared and visible light spectrums.

*The James Webb Space Telescope.Image: NASA/JPL*

A branch of astronomy called asteroseismology5 is one in which scientists ‘listen in’ to the sounds of stars. Sounds created within the heart of a star can provide important data regarding the processes at work in its atomic furnace.

By studying the ‘music’ of stars it has also become possible to discover exoplanets, in some cases planets that resemble Earth in terms of size and distance from the parent star.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched in December 2021, is designed to monitor the heavens primarily in the infrared spectrum and with astonishing sensitivity.

Perhaps the JWST or some even more sensitive instrument of the future, may one day listen in to extra-terrestrial life, not by a signal that was deliberately transmitted into space but one born of sounds that created infrared light. Or perhaps if there is an ocean on a remote alien planet, the James Webb telescope may one day listen in to the sounds of its waves crashing onto the shore. And where there is liquid water, there may well be life.

Most people remain blissfully unawarethat our words and songs are rushing into space as modulated infrared light. Maybe someday, the very words or songs you utter today will be heard by non-human ears in a galaxy far, far away.

The Therapeutic Power of Vocal Sound

The implications that your voice creates infrared light are profound because every cell in your body ‘sings’ predominantly in the infrared spectrum of light 6,7 and it is why your body is warm and radiates heat. Therefore, when we sing, we are actually singing the language of cells, and not only our own cells but those of everyone who are in our close proximity. The graphic below shows the electromagnetic frequency range of light utilized by cells for communication.

*Cell-cell communication occurs mainly in the infrared spectrum*

Another aspect of vocal soundthat CymaScope research has recently discovered, concerns cymatics, the science of making sound visible. Whenever sound encounters a membrane, a cymatic pattern is automatically imprinted on the membrane’s surface. Usually invisible to the unaided eye, such patterns can be rendered visible under special lighting conditions, rather like dusting a fingerprint on glass to make it visible, we ‘dust’ the CymaScope instrument’s water membrane with light. The cymatic principle occurs at all scales,

even in the microscopic realm, therefore, every cell in your body receives a cymatic pattern when you sing or are being sung to. We have begun to image such patterns in the CymaScope laboratory and initial experiments with microscopic water droplets revealed great beauty in the patterns that formed. A video of microscopic cymatics can be viewed on the CymaScope YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0St42jfgMU

Many of the biological mechanisms by which sound is a catalyst that triggers the body’s natural healing mechanisms have now been identified, one of which concerns the uptake of sonic energy by cells and the stimulation of the cell’s Integral Membrane Proteins (IMP’s), which project from the outer membrane of almost all cells.

*Cymatic patterns on microscopic water droplets*

Such microscopic cymatic patterns manifest on the surface membranes of every cell in your body, gently massaging the integral membrane proteins that project from their surface. When cells are challenged by an invasion of pathogens or by physical trauma, or by high levels of toxicity, they automatically enter the G0 phase of the cell cycle, which is a sleeping, quiescent state.

The cell cycle is a series of events that take place in a cell, leading to duplication of its DNA and cell division, creating two daughter cells

When a system of cells enters the G0 phase the body becomes imbalanced and the person experiences a general feeling of illness. Under these circumstances, singing or humming provides a sonic energy stimulus in which the sleeping cells are encouraged to awaken and return to the normal cell cycle, helping to reverse the illness.

When we are ill, we may not feel like singing or humming but if we take a leaf out of the

cat’s method of healing, all cats purr when they are injured, and a scientific study showed why: the frequencies created by the cat’s

purr accelerate healing.

Sleeping cells can also be awakened by full body immersion a musical environment, or immersion in a musical noise environment, such as created by playing a gong, or in Nature, by immersion in white noise, such as walking by the ocean while waves are crashing, or standing by a waterfall.

Another biological mechanism by which sound triggers the body’s healing response, concerns active stimulation of the sinus cavities and lungs by vocal humming and singing, which has been shown to greatly elevate Nitric Oxide production, (NO)9,10 from which many health benefits are derived.

*Nitric oxide relaxes smooth muscle cells in the walls of blood vessels, resulting in vasodilation(Courtesy of NIOX)*

Perhaps most important of the benefits is vasodilation11, the reduction of blood pressure. Adult female skulls and sinus cavities are typically smaller than those of adult males; smaller sinus cavities support higher resonant frequencies, for example 2kHz for females and 1kHz for males. It should also be remembered that humming and singing does not generate a single frequency but gives rise to an array of harmonics and that the prime resonant mode of the sinus cavities is automatically ‘selected’ during vocal humming and singing as a natural aspect of Helmholtz

resonance (the resonant property of a gas-filled cavity).

Stimulating the vagus nerve by singing, with healing benefits

The vagus nerve represents the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system.

The vagus nerve represents the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which oversees a vast array of crucial bodily functions, including control of mood, immune response, digestion and heart rate and carries an extensive range of signals from the digestive system and organs and vice versa.12 Upon exiting the jugular foramen, an auricular branch is given off, giving innervation to the auditory canal and external ear. This is the only branch of the vagus nerve given to the head. As the vagus nerve descends the neck via the medulla oblongata, branches leave to the pharynx and, most importantly in the context of singing, to the larynx, before continuing into the thorax where it connects with the heart and other major organs.

The following diagram shows the major connections of the vagus nerve, including the ears and the larynx, therefore, this important nerve can be stimulated by active singing, and by either actively playing a musical instrument or by passively listening to music.

inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, are released by activated macrophages and other immune cells upon immune challenge. These mediators are detected by sensory components of the afferent arm of the inflammatory reflex. Neural interconnections between the NTS, AP, DMN, NA and higher forebrain regions integrate afferent (red) and efferent (blue) vagus output, thus, regulating immune activation, suppressing pro- inflammatory cytokines, and reducing inflammation. Vagus efferent output can be supported by auricular (hearing) and laryngeal (vocal) input.

*The pinna, showing the location of the tragus, where the vagus nerve terminates(Courtesy of Tori Lewis Fibonacci Web Studio)*

The bi-directional communication between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract, sometimes called the ‘brain- gut axis’, is a complex system that includes the vagus nerve, and is becoming increasingly important as a therapeutic target for gastrointestinal and psychiatric disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.14 The gut is an important control centre of the immune system and the vagus nerve has immunomodulatory

properties. As a result, this nerve plays important roles in the relationship between the gut, the brain, and inflammation.14 Conveniently, the vagus nerve terminates at the tragus of each ear, as shown in this diagram, which facilitates its automatic stimulation when singing or listening to music.

In the study titled, Anti-inflammatory properties of the vagus nerve: potential therapeutic implications of vagus nerve stimulation,15 the authors mention anti-inflammatory properties of the vagus nerve and suggest that it is a good therapeutic target in inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract, for example, irritable bowel syndrome, and for supporting rheumatoid arthritis.

The laryngeal connection to the vagus nerve directly influences internal visceral states. In the article, Stalking the calm buzz: how the polyvagal theory links stage presence, mammalian evolution, and the root of the vocal nerve,16 Joanna Cazden discusses Stephen W. Porges ‘polyvagal theory’ which emphasises phonation, respiration and hearing. Porge’s research proposes that the voice

is strongly influenced by neuro-regulation that underlies our ability to communicate, and because the vagus nerve mediates both our emotional state and our laryngeal muscle activity, our visceral states directly influence and are expressed through the voice.

“the purpose of art is to exercise the muscles ofthe soul...”

Full appreciation of the autonomic vagus nerve, its influence on behaviour and its implications for vocal performance, requiresa distinction between the neurophysiologic aspects of the autonomic system’s two main sub-branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic.16 These two aspects of the autonomic nervous system can be thought of as a sympathetic accelerator and a parasympathetic break, providing bidirectional neural communication between our organs and brainstem.17

Several nerve tracts in the brain can send sympathetic signalsto stimulate a faster heart beat but only the vagus nerve sendsa slowing signal, achieved during exhalation: the heart beats slightly faster as we inhale and slower as we exhale.18 This effect is termed, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), which is a measure of vagal tone. The auditory nerve (CN VIII) that carries sound signals from the ears to the brain receives close crosstalk from the myelinated vagus nerve. Porge mentions that the voice is a potent trigger of the physiological states of others and that emotional prosody is an audible sign of autonomic status, recognised in the brain of the listener. Because the laryngeal nerves branch directly from the vagus, the voice transmits our inner resilience and expressive visceral state to others through sound.16

In the study, Music Structure Determines Heart Rate Variability of Singers,19 it is suggested that singing can be viewed as initiating the work of a vagal pump: Singing produces slow, regular and deep respiration which in turn triggers RSA, causing a pulsating vagal activity. In addition, as discussed earlier, singing and humming stimulates nitric oxide production in the nasal cavities and lungs, with many associated health benefits.

Playwright, John Guare, said, “the purpose of art is to exercise the muscles of the soul, so that when the challenges of life come, we are prepared”. Porge’s polyvagal theory suggests that these “muscles of the soul” may be found in the tiny area of the brainstem where a single myelinated pathway influences the remarkable vagus nerve.16

Last, it is important to mention the 3:2 musical ratio in the light of discoveries made by a Russian team, led by Professor Sergey V. Petoukhov. Apart from the commonly known aspects of this ratio, it is less well known that this same ratio exists between frequencies of the second and third harmonics of an oscillating string, and by extension, of our vocal folds. In their 2017 paper, published by Elsevier, they discovered that complementary pairs of nitrogenous bases exist that feature 2 and 3 hydrogen bonds respectively20. From this point of view, DNA is a chain of numbers, 3 and 2, of the hydrogen bonds. The implications of this discovery are that when we sing we are actually singing directly to the ‘music’ of our D.N.A. sequence. Petoukhov also discovered that the 3:2 ratio is mathematically related to the tensor family of genetic matrices and that if the square root from such a matrix is taken, the result is the ‘golden matrix’, all elements of which are equal to the golden section. Thus, the ratio 3:2 and the golden section are intimately connected with our D.N.A. and with our vocal apparatus: we are actually singing a form of genetic music, music that brings healing to all life.

References

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