Your Body’s Silent Symphony of Secret Sounds: sound as energy

Let’s say you’re a surfer dude.  Surprisingly, the wave that you ride on is not made of water – the wave is energy traveling through the water.  No energy – no wave – no surfing… bummer!  But on a good day when “surf’s up”, there’s plenty of energy moving the water so you can catch some good rides.  Sound is also a wave of energy.

Objects, large and small, produce sound waves because they vibrate. A simple vibrating object like a tuning fork moves the air particles around it.  Those air particles then move the air particles around them and so on – carrying the vibrational pulse of sound outward through the air or water in waves. All atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, cells, fibers, organs - everything in the body vibrates like the tuning fork, creating sound.  Chances are you've never "heard" the sound of calcium any more than you’ve heard an ultrasonic dog whistle because both are outside the range of normal human hearing.  If we can't hear calcium then how do we know what sound it makes?

A tuning fork that vibrates more quickly is creating air pressure waves more rapidly and the number of waves per second occurs more frequently.  This is what is meant by the word “frequency” as it relates to energy such as sound.  The frequency rate of waves per second is higher in one tuning fork than another and we hear this higher frequency rate as a higher pitch. Every sound has a particular frequency based on its rate of vibration.   Just as tuning forks of different sizes create different sounds, objects of different sizes create different sounds.  Sounds are identified by their frequency rate number.  

One little atom of calcium vibrates creating infrasonic (a range below normal human hearing) sound waves at the frequency rate common to all calcium atoms.  When three calcium atoms are bound together forming a molecule their combined frequency rate is different from the single calcium atom. In other words, one atom of calcium makes a different sound than a 3 calcium atom molecule.  If an object is creating sound waves at a frequency rate of 220Hz per second we can deduce that this object might be many atoms and/or molecules bound together forming a compound.  In fact, we might even be able to identify this object strictly by its sound as a biochemical precursor to serotonin that has often been effective in treating conditions like depression, insomnia, chronic headaches, fibromyalgia, and binge eating associated with obesity.  Wouldn’t that be amazing!

Musical notes can also be identified as numbers based on frequency rates. The frequency rate of 220Hz is within the range known as the musical note “A”, so the sound created by an object with a frequency rate of 220Hz is known musically as the note “A”. 

Disclaimer: Human BioAcoustics®, as originated by Sharry Edwards, M.Ed., does not diagnose or prescribe for medical or psychological conditions nor does it claim to prevent, treat, mitigate or cure such conditions. Human BioAcoustics® researchers do not provide diagnosis, care, treatment or rehabilitation of individuals, nor apply medical, mental health or human development principles.

© Nancy Blachly 2005