Sound Therapy is a relatively new technology which is designed to provide the user with many health benefits including the following:

• Relief from tinnitus (a ringing in your ears)
• Removal of tiredness and stress
• Provides more vitality and wellbeing
• Provides deep relaxation and relief from anxiety
• Creates heightened mental capacity
• Generates increased energy with more focus
• Can provide deep sleep and relief from insomnia
• Improves hearing for people who have industrial deafness or hearing loss from ageing
• Better balance for those with Meniere’s disease
• Better personal relationships and better family harmony

How Sound Therapy Works.

Sound Therapy is a listening system which utilises knowledge about the brain based on recent discoveries and advances in the area of ear specialization.

Sound therapy uses specially recorded soundtracks of heavily filtered classical music in order to assist in the rehabilitation of the ears as well as to help to stimulate the brain.

The actual Sound Therapy then stimulates the whole ear by sending it constantly alternating sounds that are high and low in their tone and the result is that this exercises the middle ear muscles which then stimulate the various receptor cells in the inner ear. As the ear becomes more receptive to high frequency sounds they are then passed directly onwards towards the brain.

This process is like recharging the brain using sound and releases vitality, removes tiredness and the need for excessive sleep thereby creating a more balanced state of peace and relaxation.

Sound Therapy self help programs can be done with just a CD and player or even a cassette tape and portable tape player. Its very easy to undertake a sound therapy program and does not intrude on other tasks you have during the day.

Sound Therapy is easy to use

As discussed Sound Therapy is easy to use in your everyday life and the best way is simply by using portable sound equipment like an MP3 Player or other device like an iPOD at a low volume whilst you undertake your other daily activities.

As a self help program it is recommended that you read one of the various books available on Sound therapy such as ‘Triumph Over Tinnitus’ or’ Sound Therapy’ Music to Recharge your Brain so you can better understand the various techniques and methods utilized in the program.

Equipment Required For Sound Therapy

Sound Therapy should ideally be listened to on playback machine that can attain a frequency of at least 10,000 Hertz (10 Kilohertz) and the best results can be attained by listening via headphones.

Portable players like MP3s and iPODS are much better as they let you move around about whilst doing your other activities you should try and make sure your player has an auto-play feature which will loop your tracks without having to rewind them. There are many places you can now buy these including from eBay or other big trustworthy online stores. Another tip is to use rechargeable batteries to help you save on costs.

Generally you should aim to listen to your sound therapy tracks for up to 2-3 hours per day and half of this time for children. Most people see results after as little as a few days whilst with others this may take a few months.

Some of the things you can undertake whilst listening to your sound therapy tracks

Because the Sound Therapy tracks are played at a low volume on portable devices it shouldn’t interfere with any of your other daily activities……..unless you are a scuba diving instructor or some other such professional where your equipment can’t be used.

Why Sound Therapy Works

Sound therapy is additionally called brain synchronization, sound healing and binaural tone adjustment and guides your brain into a deep mental state called the Theta state. It does this safely.

Laboratory testing with sound therapy and patients have shown that gaining a Theta state produces health benefits which include better immune functionality, enhanced memory and recall, increased brain functions, more energy, better the ability to deal with pain more easily and greatly improved sleep cycles.

The rejuvenating and restorative effects of the Theta waves are already produced whilst you are in REM sleep states also called Rapid Eye Movement. Sound therapy helps with your mental functions and increasing your immunity by making up for lost REM sleep because of your tinnitus or other hearing condition.

People who are deprived of REM sleep and the subsequent Theta states achieved often will have more illnesses and diseases, early aging, heightened sensitivity to pain, lack of mental focus and depression and even confusion. It is possible to not be getting enough REM sleep even if you do sleep 8 hours a night if your sleep is interrupted or if you drink alcohol a lot as that as well as anti-depressants are well known for limiting your REM sleep time. This causes you to get less Theta waves.

Creating a high-performance mental state

In order to attain a higher performing mental state you need the left and right hemispheres of your brain to be “synchronized. In order to do this a special frequency of sound needs to be played in one ear, whilst a different frequency is played into the other ear.

When this happens the brain creates a single frequency from both the sounds and by doing so harmonizes or “synchronizes” the brain which in turn increases communication between both sides of your brain.

Your brain interprets this new mental stimulation and increased brain activity occurs or as it’s often referred to a new brain state is created called “higher thinking”. Many scientists and researchers believe this state is very similar to the mental state achieved in Zen meditation because this type of meditation creates many Alpha and Theta brainwaves.

It has been found in laboratory tests that sound therapy can produce as much as a 20-50% increase in Theta brainwaves which can result in increased production of several vital neuro-chemicals like serotonin, beta-endorphins, acetylcholine and vasopressin all of which will help increase your mental state, focus and memory, lessen stress, assist in preventing depression as well as boosting your immune functions.

Generally there will be an increase in these neuro-chemicals after the first week of using sound therapy and this will gradually increase much further with extended use.

The various attributes of your tinnitus like the pitch, duration and loudness will determine what kind of masking will bring you relief. Often when a patient has hearing loss plus tinnitus then the masking device and your hearing aid can be used in combination.

Maskers aren’t always useful for all types of Tinnitus and like when you get a hearing aid you will require an evaluation by an accredited audiologist to ascertain whether a tinnitus masker will work for you.