Samonas Sound Therapy , A way to health
Reading example
What is Samonas Sound Therapy about? It is an instrument for stimulating vitality and energy based on the fundamental importance of sound, hearing and the brain. The term "therapy" is perhaps a little misleading as this is not therapy in the conventional sense but is more a way of relearning the lost facility of directed listening. There is scientific proof of how it works, based on the biological links between the sound-receiving organs and the rest of the body. What "learning to listen" actually entails is described more fully later on, however, to put it simply, you can relax in an armchair or go about your daily activities whilst enjoying quiet classical music or the sounds of nature through headphones. The music and sounds of nature are specially prepared and designed to regenerate your sense of hearing. And not just your hearing: Sound Therapy has beneficial effects in a whole range of areas. Hearing is just the beginning, it is the gateway to the mind and body. Later we will learn why hearing plays such a key role, why it is the starting point for complete healing and may even lead to a personality transformation.
The way of preparing and producing the sounds is new but the basic idea is an old one. The underlying principle is part of mankind's fundamental knowledge and becomes obvious as our understanding of human development grows. Each organ in the human body has several different aspects. Sound Therapy is based on the various aspects of hearing and the brain and, since the brain is the control centre for the entire body, it affects the whole body.
The benefits of Sound Therapy will vary from person to person because they take effect where the mind and body most needs them, the weak areas in our system.
Some of the benefits of Sound Therapy which people have experienced are:
Improved concentration and renewed creativity
Reading and writing problems, difficulties at school and under achievers helped
In many cases a surprising improvement in hearing
Increased vitality and energy, often combined with a need for less sleep
Personality strengthened and harmonized
If the external conditions are right, people can find peace and an inner focus which would otherwise be hard to find. Sound Therapy also has a positive effect on the voice. It may help with a variety of psychosomatic or autonomic illnesses and is, in some cases, reported to have relieved tinnitus. Generally it mobilises the body's self-healing powers.
Healing is an active process. Sound Therapy is a concept of directed listening, not just in the conventional sense. By listening to our bodies' signals we are able to change and it is this change which forms the basis of the healing process. At a more elevated level, therefore, improving the sense of hearing is a form of physical and mental healing.
Standing upright without falling over
There is a link between hearing and gross movement:
The low sounds, the rhythms, make you want to "get up and dance".
The middle frequencies, which characterise speech, trigger the fine mechanisms of control and articulation in the larynx and the mouth (see Chapter 2 "Hearing and Speech").
The high and ultra-high frequencies are important for our musical faculties and our nervous system. By this stage the movements are so fine that we no longer see them – we just hear them as musical sounds The higher the sound, the finer the movements become.
An acoustic stimulus acts not only on the hearing (cochlea) but, via the organ of balance and the nervous system, on the entire body.
There are plenty of examples of how hearing and the locomotor system are directly linked.
Hearing enables us to orientate ourselves within our environment.
Without doubt the physical sense of balance and the sense of hearing whilst responsible for spatial orientation and seeking a viewpoint, are also the basis and starting point of mental and emotional processes.
Active hearing
The child listens with its whole body.
Hearing, speaking and the position of the body are closely interlinked.
Active hearing is an ability.
Sounds which we hear actively are a form of energy; in this sense listening is nothing other than the absorption of energy.
Listening alters the hearing faculty of the human ear and is nourishment for the human brain.
Slow-burning – losing vitality
When we "stop wanting to hear" psychologically, it leads to the weakening of our physical and mental energy.
It is also noteworthy to see how a few friendly words can lift people's spirits.
After a walk you feel a pleasant tiredness; after shopping you are utterly exhausted, worn out.
The audiogram of a happy, relaxed person will alter within hours or days when they become tired, dejected or tense.
All the evidence suggests that this gradual loss of hearing we suffer in modern times is accompanied by a gradual loss of energy.
The core of Sound Therapy
A human body incapable of regenerating must be helped to re-experience the restorative effect of sounds.
The main effect of Sound Therapy lies in the activation of sounds using the electronic envelope shape modulator.
The Sonas System
The reason for developing the Sonas system was the desire for improvement of playback technology to transfer both therapeutic and emotional effects of the music. The basis of the work was a systematic survey and evaluation of known phenomena:
A simple playback device can sound better than a complicated high-tech product.
Direct cuts (of analogue records have surprising qualities. This cannot be explained with use of components alone, as the same components are used for conventional recording techniques.
Tube amplifiers reach an excellent sound quality, which is not reconcilable with their mediocre data.
Some CD recordings are cool and lifeless.
The surroundings of a recording have an obvious impact on the quality of presentation, to verify this, compare the sound of stereo equipment in Hifi-departments of shops and that in a quiet location.
Significant differences between digital and analogue recordings could not be found during thorough listening experiments in the studio lab.
The use of the same music was a precondition. Therefore some recordings were made twice in order to compare the digital and analogue versions.
When repeatedly copying recordings for testing purposes, their quality decreased. This is a verifiable phenomenon, although, theoretically it should not happen because every digital copy is identical. However, it is an empirical fact that the spatial impression is significantly reduced the more times a recording is copied.
Sophisticated (and expensive) studio technology of high quality standards usually has its place in a sound lab full of technical devices (nowadays increasingly with computer installations and monitors). According to musicians and from the authors own experiences, this leads to poor reproduction. If later the same recording is played in different surroundings, a completely different sound impression unfolds.
As a general rule, live presentations have many background sounds which are barely noticeable at the time, but are very noticeable on a CD or record.