BioAcoustics: Using Sound to Heal and Prevent Disease
BioAcoustics was founded by Sharry Edwards – The executive director of Sound Health Alternatives International, Inc., in Albany, Ohio. Edwards began her research over two decades ago, when audiological tests revealed that she was born with the unique ability to hear sounds beyond the normal range of human hearing, as well as vocally producing sine waves. Since then, through the concept of vocal coherence, Edwards has demonstrated that the human voice is a unique frequency representation of the body’s structural and biochemical status, and that, through the use of voice spectral analysis techniques she developed, the body is capable of diagnosing and prescribing for itself.
What is BioAcoustics?
BioAcoustics means “life sounds”, and it describes the field of research involving the use of voice spectral analysis and low frequency sound to help the body reverse its own disease. It can most aptly be described as a cross between music therapy and biofeedback. It is related to music therapy in the sense that certain sounds are used to stimulate the healing process, although not necessarily sounds that are considered musical. And it is related to biofeedback in that, as these low frequency sounds are presented to the person, they elicit specific biological and emotional responses.
BioAcoustics should not be confused with Frequency Therapy, which uses ranges that are not considered to be auditory and is delivered through transducers placed on the body. Nor is it the same thing as music therapy, because the sounds used are not always within the range of vocal or instrumental octaves. BioAcoustics uses low frequency ambient sounds which are delivered to the client in a sound chamber or through headphones.
What does the BioAcoustics process involve?
There are two distinct processes to BioAcoustics, both of which are essential if maximum results are to be achieved.
This first process involves determining the individual vocal patterns of the person, which is done before any sound frequencies are presented – BioAcoustic Vocal Profiling. Once the person’s vocal pattern has been determined, sets of sound formulas are specifically created and presented to that person, which are designed to positively influence and integrate the systems within the body that produce, interpret, and otherwise use frequency. For health to be present, the body requires the presence of a full spectrum of harmonious frequencies working together cooperatively. In a very real sense, you can liken the body as a musical instrument. When it is out of tune, the result is discordant, but when the instrument is tuned, the sounds become consonant.
The idea of using sound to facilitate change within the body is not new. Almost every culture throughout recorded history has used sound and movement to influence mood. For thousands of years, practitioners of Tibetan medicine have known of the positive vibrational effects of bells and chanting, for instance, and ancient philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle taught that the human body reflects the sounds and tones that exist within its personal environment. It wasn’t until recently, however, that computerized technology and instrumentation advanced to the stage where we are now able to use this technology to use sound frequencies diagnostically and therapeutically.
To literally create “sound health.”
The term “sound health” is actually a play on words. We’ve known about the relationship between sound and health all along, but we were able to deal with it in our language much quicker than we’ve been able to deal with it as a technology or an idea related to well-being.
Sound means “stable” or “foundational,” and it also refers to frequency and music. And there is a feedback loop between the sounds that people make and the sounds that people hear. It’s the only dual feedback loop that is like that in the body. You don’t make color with your eyes, for example, but you do use your eyes to perceive color.
BioAcoustics can be used to make the diagnostic and therapeutic elements of health care more precise. We’ve already done it with cars. We can take our cars into the garage and plug them in and have a machine evaluate exactly what’s wrong, but with conventional medicine, we don’t have that ability in relation to our own bodies. We have MRI’s and X-rays, and other devices that we’ve created, but these are not diagnostic enough to individuate for each of us. When we look at people in frequency, we find that their bone and their muscle structure are pretty nearly the same, but when it comes to organs we start to become very individual. And when you come to emotions, we each create our own scale, not just our own song.
What happens when a person comes for a BioAcoustics session?
From a spectrograph it is possible to determine what frequencies are too high or too low in the voice. When there are gaps in the measurements and things that are too high or too low, then we know that the person has some unbalance by way of his frequencies in the body.
A session begins with the person speaking into a special microphone that is designed to give a recording of the governing patterns of their Signature Sound. This is entered into a computer, which then does a Fast Fourier Transform and creates a computerized representation of the voice, decibel, and frequency, as well as the architecture of the voice itself, by way of the shape of the wave form. We then evaluate the reading to see what points are too high or too low.
Points that are located high on the graph, called “risers,” indicate sound frequencies that are loud and overabundant, while points that are low, known as “stringers,” indicate frequencies that are not apparent. The objective is to create a smaller, more unified pattern of fewer risers and/or stringers, which is an indication of more coherence. The frequencies that are lacking, overabundant, or dissident can then be used to construct sets of frequencies that the person can use to help him reverse whatever imbalances may be present.
Stress, man-made electricity, being around machinery, etc. causes our frequencies to drop out or to become over-abundant, and as we examine the vocal spectral analysis and find out what’s too high or too low, or what’s missing or thin in the voice, we can tell what’s going on with someone’s health.
How are the frequencies administered?
We have a little box that is a miniature computer and we set the frequencies up in that box. You hook it up to a speaker or earphones and turn it on and listen to the frequencies just as you would listen to music.
Are the results that you achieve permanent or temporary?
It depends on the person and on his or her condition. Depending on a person’s symptoms, treatment can be either short- or long-term. In most cases, reassessment, monitoring, and program adjustment are essential for continued improvement. But one of the big advantages of BioAcoustics, is that a person’s symptoms that are often conflicting can be separated and identified using Vocal Profiling, including cases where conventional evaluation is unable to determine the underlying cause.
Another advantage of BioAcoustics is that it acts as an ideal complement or adjunct to other therapies, both diagnostically and therapeutically. In addition, what we are finding is that the diagnosis in and of itself is not as important as identifying and introducing the indigenous frequencies of the person’s originating patterns. The diagnosis of digestive upset, for example, is not as important as presenting the frequency that will enhance or resolve a person’s specific digestive difficulties.
A person’s outcome using BioAcoustics is in large part due to his or her willingness to follow the protocol prescribed by the practitioner. Each person is evaluated on an individual basis, and each treatment protocol is designed specifically for that person.
What is a Signature Sound?
A Signature Sound is the frequency representation of all that you are. Each person’s Signature Sound is influenced by his or her genetic make-up and the environment in which he or she lives. It reflects an individual’s physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual state, and includes the sound that is produced oto-acoustically by the ears.
And there actually is an ear focus. We’re all very much aware of how our eye focus changes when looking at something close, and then far away, but most people do not realize that a similar change of focus occurs in the ear. When you begin to consciously change that focus of your ear, you’ll start hearing a very high pitch sound, which is your Signature Sound — the frequency representation of all that you are. Everything that’s ever happened to you is manifested in that sound.
What we have found through voice spectral analysis is that when a person is not in an optimum state of health, both physiologically and psychologically, his or her voice will have missing notes or tones that are part of one’s Signature Sound. Indicators of physical and/or mental/emotional distress can then be categorized from these notes, and when the sound frequencies that correspond to them are provided, the ability to self-heal is significantly enhanced.
During the BioAcoustics’ process, when you present someone with their Signature Sound, it will synchronize their heart and brain. Your heart and your brain will synchronize to the beat frequency of it. When you listen to your own sound, it brings harmony and balance to the different systems of the body and is very relaxing. When we do the computer analysis, it gives us everything that makes up the Signature Sound.
What are some of the health issues that can be addressed?
The research is ongoing, but to date the frequency formulas based on Signature Sounds have been able to assist the healing process for a wide range of structural, neurological, and biochemical conditions. These include identifying pathogens, biochemical toxins, genetic syndromes, and diagnostically and therapeutically addressing a wide range of health conditions, including muscle stress and weakness, nutritional imbalances, attention problems and learning disorders, environmental allergies, arthritis, chronic pain, osteoporosis, blood sugar problems, metabolic disorders, gout, and sports injuries.
Are there any limitations that you have found regarding BioAcoustics and health.
BioAcoustics is most appropriate for nonemergency health conditions, on a predictive, diagnostic, and/or therapeutic basis. We do not recommend it for emergency situations, such as poisoning, traumatic bleeding, broken bones, or situations like heart attack or appendicitis. I would never recommend that it be used to set a broken bone, for example, but I would not hesitate to offer it to accelerate healing, reduce pain and swelling, and reduce the recuperation time of such an accident.
What are some of the areas in which you see BioAcoustics being used in the future?
I think the promise of BioAcoustics in terms of health care will continue to grow. Right now, one of the biggest problems facing us is the exorbitant costs associated with health care. A significant part of these costs has to do with the ability to detect disease before it progresses to serious proportions. BioAcoustics has much to offer in this area, due to its effectiveness as a predictive and diagnostic tool. Other areas of high medical costs include rehabilitation expenses, the side-effects of unsuitable medication, and long-term costs for lingering or incurable disease.
Among the uses for BioAcoustics are individualized, holistic, predictive and preventative health screening; drug and nutritional evaluation; nonintrusive blood chemistry screening; nonintrusive temperature control; depiction of disease root causes and disease pathways; identification of viral, bacterial, and fungal infections; and identification of stress, paralyzed, or inactive muscles. Among the areas of medicine that are most ready for a direct integration of BioAcoustics with conventional diagnostic and treatment methods are physical therapy, dietetics, physical therapy and massage, emergency medical technologies, and sports medicine.
Toning and Discovering Your Signature Sound
The following exercises are recommended by Sharry Edwards as a means of working with sound to enhance vitality, and for discovering your own Signature Sound.
“All manner of systems have been devised to organize the various sounds we produce,” Edwards says, “but it is the natural tones that seem to have the most effect, even if we don’t often use them, at least not in public. Natural grunts, groans, and sighs are the sounds we make when we find ourselves in our most vulnerable states, such as during times of illness, fear, grief, anger, or when making love. These sounds are associated with the most fundamental aspects of our lives, and we didn’t have to learn them. They represent an untapped means of gaining dominion over our physical and emotional selves.”
To make use of such sounds, a practice called toning, Edwards advising making any sound, allowing it to originate from your throat, nose, or deep in your gut. Close your mouth and make the sound, noticing if you can feel it moving through your nose. Experiment, running a scale from the lowest to the highest note you can make. Notice which sounds you like the best, and which sounds most produce a vibrating sensation.
“The sounds that cause you to vibrate are the most helpful, “Edwards says. “Vibrating tones in your sinus cavity or throat, for example, can reduce the pain of a headache and decrease sinus, ear, or throat infections.”
To discover your Signature Sound, try this exercise: Listen for a few seconds to a sound that is very near to you. Now change your focus and listen to a sound that is several feet away, or in another room. Now listen close again. Now far. As you keep changing your focus between the near and far sounds, notice if you can feel your ears changing their focus as well. With practice, you will be able to. Eventually, you will begin to hear a high pitched ring in your ears. “This is your own personal sound,” Edwards explains. “It is exactly right for you, every minute of every day, and listening to it will feed you the tones you need.”