Deep sounds and their impact on unwinding
Deep sounds have been widely used to produce meditative effects whether during yoga classes or massage sessions. It is also well-established that deep sounds have a positive impact on subjective assessments of sleep quality. That is, a wide range of participants in numerous studies have consistently self-reported that listening to deep sounds enables them to get a better night’s sleep. This widespread perception explains why 62% of the general population have used sounds to improve sleep at least once.
While research has shown that deep sounds improve subjective perceptions of sleep, we need more evidence of the objective effectiveness of deep sounds to increase the clinical adoption of deep sounds as a treatment for sleep problems. In short, research needs to show that deep sounds are actually significantly improving sleep quality, rather than simply improving people’s perceptions of the quality of their sleep.
Recent studies have measured the impact of listening to deep sounds on sleep by analyzing brain activity, physiological responses, and cognitive performance assessments. This article will discuss the findings from this literature and explore the personal and musical factors that can cause the effectiveness of deep sounds to vary.
How do deep sounds help us to unwind?
One theory is that white noise — a constant and consistent sound that includes multiple different frequencies put together — masks noise disturbances that can wake us up during the night or prevent us from falling asleep. This masking effect can reduce our sensitivity to noise disturbances, allowing us to get to sleep faster and avoid night wakings.
Another explanation is that white noise can provide an optimal amount of noise to the neural network of the brain, which enhances neural synchronization during sleep. Neural synchronization during sleep is associated with better cognitive functioning.
Whatever the reason behind this effect, we can tell that psychological relaxation occurs by measuring physiological responses. One study exposed participants to pleasant natural sounds after they had undertaken a stressful mental arithmetic task. The sounds had the effect of decreasing skin conductance levels, which measure sweat production caused by stress. This indicates that listening to ambient sounds may help us to recover from the stresses experienced during the day.
Personal factors that influence the effectiveness of deep sounds
Studies have shown that the extent to which listening to deep sounds will improve your sleep depends on certain factors that are personal to you.
One study considered how much a woman’s level of ‘suggestibility’ impacts the extent to which her sleep is improved by listening to ambient music. Suggestibility means the extent to which a person will accept the suggestions made by another person and act according to them. People who are more suggestible have been shown to respond better to hypnosis and the ‘placebo effect’.
To the surprise of the researchers, the study revealed that the less suggestible women benefited much more from listening to ambient music with a 46% increase in the non-rapid eye movement sleep phase.
It was reasoned that women with low suggestibility preferred the non-verbal ambient music to the verbal, hypnotic text because they didn’t like the idea of being directly manipulated. The study concluded that perhaps a combination of verbal and non-verbal sounds could lead to benefits for both levels of suggestibility.
Another study found that those who suffer from insomnia, anxiety, or tiredness which makes them more sensitive to sound disturbances showed the greatest improvements as a result of listening to white noise. Similarly, another study found that those with higher stress levels benefited from more objective relaxation in response to natural sounds than those with fewer stress levels.
Musical factors that influence the effectiveness of deep sounds
Studies have suggested that the sound pressure of the music is relevant to the effectiveness of the music’s meditative impact. Higher sound pressure and higher perceived noise intensity may have an undesirable impact on sleep.
It has also been suggested that the diffusion of the sound throughout the room could also impact sleep. One study pointed to the equal diffusion of the sound and the general suitability of the sound for the particular acoustics of the room as a potential factor in the effectiveness of the sound.
Some studies have also found natural sounds to have better results than artificial sounds. One such study revealed the differences in brain activity when listening to natural and artificial sounds. Natural sounds tended to stimulate the rest-digest nervous system, which is associated with relaxation. By comparison, artificial sounds elicited brain activity that was similar to states of anxiety, PTSD, and depression.
Another study found that even if the natural sounds of gentle streams or breezes had a higher pressure level than the environmental sounds of urban living, they still produced a faster physiological recovery after participants experienced psychological stress. It was noted that this may be due to the positive emotions that are evoked by natural sounds, compared to environmental ones.
It is worth building upon our understanding of non-pharmacological tools for improving sleep, especially those that are practical and accessible like deep sounds. The effectiveness of sleep-enhancing medicines can decrease over time and can lead to addiction. Listening to deep sounds is low-risk, cost-effective, practical, and flexible to the needs of the individual.
This means that we can all conduct our own experiments in the comfort of our homes to identify whether listening to deep sounds leads to better sleep for us, and which type of sound results in the best quality sleep for us. The Loóna’s app is a great place to start with sleepscapes that contain soft, ambient, background music, and soundscapes that include a library of diverse music.
