The Positive Effects of Nature Sounds and Their Impact on Environmental Health and Wellness

Listening to nature sounds as a daily mental and physical health regimen as an Audio Pharmacology™

Shannon Recordings 360 ambisonics and stereo A/B recordings in New Mexico

The sounds of nature are my worldwide sound waves of wonder. All species are impacted by different variations of sound along the electromagnetic spectrum of frequencies. When camping as a boy-scout, I often pondered the drastic shift of feelings when I arrived in nature versus how I felt when I returned to the city. Because I was suffering from sleep deprivation, anxiety, worry, pain, allergies, and social emotional issues at a very young age, camping in forest settings drastically improved my mental and physical well-being. But why and how? I always wondered why nature spaces felt so much better. How can less urban development give me so much more? Why does city living feel unnatural to me even though I grew up in the concrete jungles of Chicago?

Why the Sounds of Nature Are so Good for Health and Well-Being

When I began to travel the world as a DJ, I realized the club scenes, light/noise pollution, and urban hotels decreased my sense of relaxation and sleep. It was in 2003, when I decided to book trips and missions away from city spaces to experience people, animals, and environments in their natural habitats. This new way of traveling sparked my cultural anthropology, eco-tourism, conservation, and ethnomusicology projects. It became the reason I love traveling, learning, and most importantly, healing. I have spent 29 years of my life as an independent scholar traveling all around the world. For me, “going back to my roots” is returning to pure nature spaces.

On July 06, 2020, Therapedic published an article with research that aligned with my personal findings on the healing effects of nature sounds. Excerpts from the article are listed below:

“Listening to nature helps us sleep better. We already know the soothing power of nature’s sounds: When we hear a mockingbird trill or a brook babble, our minds calm and our racing hearts slow down.

Nature’s music can restore us by helping us relax, and now we know why. Researchers have discovered that nature sounds change the connections in our brains, taking down the body’s fight-or-flight response. Fight or flight happens when we are under extreme stress. The nervous system prepares to fight or flee a threatening situation by releasing the hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. These stress hormones make a good night’s sleep very difficult.

Researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in England have determined that nature’s sounds, in contrast to artificial noise, build up the “rest-digest” response instead.  This opposite response to “fight-or-flight” helps the body relax and fall to sleep. 

This research study, published in Scientific Reports, is noteworthy for the use of heart-rate monitors, functional magnetic resonance imaging scans (fMRI) and social experiments to determine why the body reacts so positively to natural environments. 

Seventeen study participants listened to alternating sounds of natural and manmade environments as they performed tasks. During this time, they received brain scans and their heart rates were monitored for changes in their nervous systems.  

From studying the fMRI results, researchers noticed that when listening to artificial sounds, the brain began a pattern of inward focused attention. This kind of attention includes worrying, depression, and forms of anxiety. Additionally, reaction time while on task was slower.

By contrast, when hearing nature sounds, the brain decreased the fight-or-flight reaction and increased the rest reaction. Participants were productive at focused tasks when listening to nature.

For a restful night’s sleep, you can easily bring the sounds of, say, a rainforest or a waterfall into your bedroom. “ - Therapedic.com

Frequency As A Pharmacy™

Frequency As A Pharmacy™ Web Platform Picture

There are several apps and websites that focus on nature sounds, meditation, sound healing, and breath-work. Youtube is filled with frequency music, nature field recordings, and music claiming to treat many ailments. Calm and Insight Timer are the flagship mediation apps for intermediate to seasoned mindfulness practitioners. I am presently developing a science based sound therapy platform designed for clinical settings and health-care professionals. Frequency As A Pharmacy™ has taken years of research and development. The quality control of the compositions, nature field recordings, high fidelity recording processes, brain/body entrainment programming, and meditations are all designed/recorded/written/selected/arranged/curated by myself. The platform will feature recordings and regiments containing my custom instrument designs along with proprietary brain entrainment programs. We never know the ingredients used in the music on streaming platforms. There isn’t a standardization of quality control either. Anyone can post something online and say its for anything without having to prove it’s validity. Frequency As A Pharmacy™ aims to address gaps in quality control, composition transparency, and sincerity in sound therapy recordings. Listen to the latest, Sentience Divine: Sacred Sounds for Self-Care and Relaxation project to feel high fidelity sound science in action. Read the liner notes for sound science, innovation, and intention transparency.

Frequency As A Pharmacy™ Web Platform Picture

If you have not had an opportunity to visit my field recording and R&D pages, please do so. They display the amount of time, money, technology, research, independent study, innovation, and care that goes into the Audio Pharmacology™ process. I fly to exotic habitats that are free from anthropogenic (human) noise to capture the recordings myself. I have built a state of the art Audio Pharmacology™ Sound Spa© and recording facility to record the compositions with audiophile high fidelity methods. I have designed custom instruments tuned to therapeutic frequencies that are exclusive to Audio Pharmacology™. I have studied on 6 continents. The investment in my boutique Audio Pharmacology™ brand is what powers Frequency As A Pharmacy™. My mission is to be the Medicinal Music Maserati© of the industry. Hand crafted and designed by quality components, sound science, equipment, and care.

I am often asked why I play nature recordings on zoom meetings, at gatherings, during lectures, during my mental health programs, within my brain entrainment programs, music, in my car, and as a daily ambiance. This article begins to explore the answer to that question and give reasons to why I travel so much to capture rarely visited habitats in hopes of helping scientists, environmentalists, naturalists, and conservationists maintain in their mission to maintain these habitats. My work with Audio Pharmacology™ and Frequency As A Pharmacy™ helps people see the value in nature spaces. Since urban dwellers are far removed from natural habitats, they get a chance to think consciously about these habitats when experiencing my work. Things that make people feel good become important to them. I have spent decades making others feel great with nature sounds, medicinal music, and functional frequency.