Sound healing

	Demonstration of a sound healing session Sound healing demo Sound healing session example, with tuning forks, singing bowls, overtone singing and metalphone
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Sound healing is the process by which participants play or listen to live or recorded sounds, in order to have a positive experience, which they may subjectively report as physical, emotional, energetic, spiritual, or a combination thereof.^[1]

Sound healing differs from music therapy in significant ways. Firstly, sound healing is an eclectic combination of practices derived from esoteric, contemplative and meditative, as well as spiritual practices, which use a range of hypothetical principles to explain or describe its processes, including those derived from Pythagoreanism, Hindu theology, and Christian religion.^[2]

In contrast, music therapy is grounded in scientific and evidence-based principles and practices by which evidence is accrued through ongoing investigation using the scientific method. Furthermore, music therapy is a regulated profession with requisite minimum training and proficiencies in most jurisdictions, whilst sound healing is unregulated without any such requirements.^[3]

Some courses in sound healing (or "sound therapy" as it is commonly known in the UK) are endorsed by the British Medical Council. Sound healing has recently gained in popularity due to its positive therapeutic effects as reported by therapy clients and it is becoming more widely accepted by the professional medical community as a therapeutic process.

References

1. Newham, P. Therapeutic Voicework. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1998.
2. Crowe, B. J., and Scovel, M., An overview of sound healing practices: Implications for the profession of music therapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1996, pp21-29.
3. American Music Therapy Association Advocacy Committee, Music Modalities, 2004.