Notice 4/1/2026: On the time of penning this, I used to be unaware that some Pulsed Electromagnetic Discipline (PEMF) therapeutic gadgets additionally declare to function by means of resonance. Resonance is a legitimate time period in electromagnetism, however I’ve not studied the claims made about these gadgets so I can’t weigh in.
There’s a complete “therapeutic” trade primarily based on the phrases “resonance,” “resonant frequencies,” “pure frequencies,” and “sympathetic vibrations.” However the utilization of those phrases isn’t scientific. The advertising and marketing has contaminated the canine world, with the plethora of sound and particularly music merchandise that promise to make our canines really feel good (or at the least lie down). The advertising and marketing—and infrequently the merchandise—are primarily based on pseudoscientific sleight-of-hand.
This put up explains why the discuss of resonant frequencies associated to music—for canines or people—is nonsense.
The Science of Pure Frequencies and Resonance
Most of us have a common concept about resonance having to do with an object vibrating due to some exterior pressure. That’s a very good begin. However to essentially perceive resonance, we have to perceive pure frequency.
Pure Frequency
Pure frequency is outlined as:
The frequency of the free oscillation of a system. — Regulation & Rennie, 2019
Pure frequencies exist in each mechanical and electrical techniques. They’re inherent bodily attributes. When contemplating sound and vibration, we’re discussing a subset of mechanical techniques: acoustical techniques. On this case, pure frequencies consequence from a relationship between a dimension of an object and the size of a corresponding sound wave. The oscillation concerned is from sound waves or different mechanical vibration.
There are a number of pure frequencies of any object. In the event you strike a tubular bell with a wood mallet, you’ll hear its pure frequencies, probably the most outstanding one comparable to its size.
For simply measured objects similar to steel tubes or beams and even rooms (hole containers), it’s easy to compute the pure frequencies. I wrote a program to compute these frequencies for the enclosure we constructed as a part of my graduate analysis (see web page 45 and following in my thesis, on the subject of “modes”).
Resonance
OK, take a breath. Now, right here’s a scientific description of resonance:
Resonance happens when the frequency of the excitation pressure is the same as the pure frequency of the system. When this occurs, the amplitude of vibration will improve with out sure and is ruled solely by the quantity of damping current within the system. — Seto, 1971, p. 4
An acoustics instance in plainer English:
When an exterior sound of the identical frequency as an object’s pure frequency is generated close to that object, the article vibrates greater than when sounds of different frequencies are performed. That is resonance. Right here’s a demo utilizing tuning forks.
Right here’s a special mechanical instance involving not sound, however pressure utilized to spring techniques. The textual content clarification is strong, too.
Additionally, you will hear the time period sympathetic vibration, which is shut in which means.
Abstract and Comparability
Pure frequency is a frequency inherent to a system or object. Resonance occurs when an exterior periodic pressure causes the article to vibrate at a pure frequency.
Damping
Right here’s the explanation that pure frequencies and resonance are usually not outstanding in human (and canine) our bodies.
For a lot of objects, frequencies are extremely damped. Damping is what it seems like: the prevention of vibration. Typically, it signifies that the vibration vitality dissipates into a fabric. Following are examples of undamped and damped vibrations. However damping in the true world just isn’t binary. It could be extra correct to debate “much less damped” and “extra damped,” as a result of nothing is totally undamped besides in principle. However I’ll go along with the binary terminology.
Undamped vibrations: Think about our tubular bell once more. In the event you struck it with a wood mallet, you’ll hear a bell-like tone that will ring for a couple of seconds. It’s resonating at its pure frequencies.
Damped vibrations: Now think about a canvas sack of peanut butter suspended from a body by a wire. It has resonant frequencies. You’ll be able to add to your psychological image some rubber balls and wood dowels of assorted lengths encased within the peanut butter to symbolize bones and organs, if you’d like. Additionally they have pure frequencies. What would occur should you struck this canvas sack with the identical wood mallet? Thud, proper? No pure tone, no length. It could nonetheless vibrate at its pure frequencies, however the amplitude can be small, and length can be quick because the peanut butter absorbed the vibration.
We people and canines, with our our bodies stuffed with muscle, fats, orgnas, and fluids, are much more like that sack of peanut butter than we’re like bells or gongs that vibrate extensively when excited. That’s the truth, and an important bodily issue when contemplating so-called resonance results on our our bodies. We don’t resonate nicely in any respect.
We perceive damping from life expertise. Which of those gongs can vibrate extra freely? Which is significantly damped, and the way is it damped?
Resonant Frequencies in Our Our bodies
Our our bodies, and elements of our our bodies, do have resonant frequencies. My femur has a resonant frequency (Gautam & Rao, 2021). So do my cranium (Fonville et al., 2022) and my lungs (Duarte & de Brito Pereira, 2006). My particular person cells most likely do, too (Puerto-Belda et al., 2024). However keep in mind the peanut butter.
If I, a residing individual, am uncovered to a pure tone that corresponds to one of many resonant frequencies of my tibia or kidney, am I going to expertise a nice vibration in that bone or organ? Unlikely. There may be manner an excessive amount of damping. And even when I may really feel the vibration, who’s to say that it might be nice?
The human physique as a complete has a resonant frequency. It’s typically between 3 and seven Hz (Brownjohn & Zheng, 2001), though some researchers have discovered frequencies as excessive as 16 Hz (Randall et al., 1997). Sounds in these ranges are all under the brink of human listening to.
What Is That Candy Feeling, Then?
Some individuals benefit from the feeling of loud music and sounds vibrating of their our bodies. When the film Return of the Jedi got here to theaters, I travelled to Cinema 1 in Corte Madera (north of San Francisco) with some musician buddies as a result of that theater was stated to have big subwoofers. I needed to listen to and really feel that jacked-up bass! The low-frequency rumbles of Jabba the Hutt and the inevitable explosions didn’t disappoint.
So what’s that feeling? It’s typically the palpable vibration from the exterior high-amplitude sound waves passing by means of our our bodies. Sound waves are stress waves, and we are able to really feel the large ones ( these with low frequencies). The title of this sort of vibration is pressured vibration.
Another definition:
When exterior forces . . . are performing on the system throughout its vibratory movement, the resultant movement is named pressured vibration. At pressured vibration, the system will are inclined to vibrate at its personal pure frequency in addition to to observe the frequency of the excitation pressure. . . . Within the presence of damping, that portion of movement not sustained by the sinusoidal excitation pressure will steadily die out. Because of this, the system will vibrate on the frequency of the excitation pressure whatever the preliminary circumstances or the pure frequency of the system (italics mine). — Seto, 1971, p. 4
Now we have in depth damping within the human physique. Therefore, the above definition means that any pure frequency resonance will “die out” within the presence of pressured vibration, e.g., loud, low-frequency sounds that jiggle our innards.
Pressured vibration doesn’t have to come back from sound. There are totally different “excitation forces.” In the event you’ve ever sat in a again massager chair, the excitation pressure is the vibration mechanism, and you’re experiencing pressured vibration.
I lately found a resonant frequency in my bathe after I hummed. One pitch audibly popped out and made the entire enclosure vibrate pleasantly. I did some measurements and computations and the pitch corresponded to a pure frequency—of the bathe. The extremely reflective partitions of the bathe made for an intense sound subject, and that was enjoyable to expertise.
I used to be not the one resonating; I used to be experiencing pressured vibration. However don’t inform that to the “resonant frequency” pseudoscience purveyors. They need to persuade you that the mathematical relationships between your physique elements and sound waves makes you are feeling good. Oh yeah, they usually’ll inform you it’s true for canines, too.
Physics and acoustics textbooks outline pressured vibration and resonance in distinction to one another. In the true world, we are going to expertise pressured vibration rather more typically. It could vary from nice to annoying to harmful. The results of various vibrations on human our bodies are broadly studied to stop hurt. Industrial settings and car design are two of the numerous settings wherein probably dangerous pressured vibrations are in play.
The Pseudoscience
It’s broadly believed {that a} resonant frequency from an exterior sound (or different waveform or “vitality”) will be felt as a nice sensation: a buzzy-ness, heat, or affinity in our our bodies. Some say it’s extra ethereal, a extra religious vitality. It’s purported to really feel actually good. However this isn’t a scientific idea. It’s pseudoscience.
Right here is a few typical language about resonant frequencies. Joshua Leeds, the psychoacoustician affiliated with iCalm Pet (Via a Canine’s Ear), has this to say:
Every thing has its resonant frequency—I consider it as a “resident,” or house, frequency—and we people are not any exception. That’s the reason sure colours really feel good to us and why we’re interested in sure devices and sounds. The colours or sounds are inside our resident frequency vary and may make us vibrate from throughout the room. Our familiarity with their frequency has an impact on our temper. — Leeds, 2010, p. 17
This isn’t the scientific definition of resonance or resonant frequency. Which is okay; it’s frequent for there to be extra summary or metaphorical variations of scientific phrases in our language. We discuss in regards to the gravity of a state of affairs or overcoming inertia. I’ve actually stated {that a} idea resonated with me when it felt true and proper.
The issue is that individuals are led to imagine that such language is scientifically primarily based. In Dr. Leeds’ quote above, he’s stating that mathematical relationships between our our bodies and out of doors stimuli trigger us to vibrate and really feel good. That’s vanishingly unlikely, particularly with the examples he gave. As an example, the frequencies of the sunshine spectrum that correspond to colours vary from 400–790 THz. (That’s terahertz, the place the “tera” prefix means 1012, or one trillion.) I’d ask Dr. Leeds:
what a part of my physique has a pure frequency of, for instance, 425,000,000,000,000 Hz;
how I’d really feel this unimaginably quick vibration (quicker than the human nervous system can seize, I’m fairly certain); and
why that (bodily unattainable) feeling would make me “really feel good” a few sure shade of crimson.
Irrelevant Matters
I do know this can be a humorous heading. However these are matters that usually come up in pseudoscientific discussions of resonance and frequency as factors of argument
Entire physique vibration is used as a therapeutic method for people (Shantakumari & Ahmed, 2023). That is pressured vibration, not resonance.
Binaural tones are used to supply an inside oscillation phenomenon within the human mind that might numerically match {an electrical} frequency put out by the mind (e.g., alpha, beta, gamma waves). This isn’t the identical as resonance, and there’s no definative proof that the apply is useful (Ingendoh et al., 2023).
Even when We Might Resonate, Music Is a Horrible Technique to Go About It
Even when we may get our our bodies or elements of them to resonate in response to an exterior sound supply, music can be an ineffective technique to go about it.
Making an attempt for whole-body resonance is a non-starter. The tones that come out of audio system (even most subwoofers) don’t go low sufficient. However let’s say I need to attempt to really feel resonance in my tibia (bone) regardless of what I’ve discovered about damping. So, do I put some loud music on my finest audio system whereas carrying ear safety, focus my consideration on my leg bones, and wait to see if I can really feel my tibia resonate at some transient second within the music?
I may slim my music selections down somewhat. This paper (Christensen et al., 1982) concludes that the frequency of a tibia may very well be between 90 and 110 Hz. These are low frequencies, however inside the vary of most sorts of music. I may make the incidence of a frequency in that vary extra possible by selecting a YouTube of a tuba concerto, a track by a Russian refrain, or a bit that includes Geoff Castelucci.
Even filtering my music selections to make decrease frequencies extra possible doesn’t imply they may have sufficient length to have an impact. And keep in mind, the goal is one frequency. There are literally thousands of notes in items of music, and the combos of frequencies change over time at fractions of a second.
If you wish to attempt to set off a resonant frequency in your individual physique half, not that I like to recommend it, you’ll finest use a tone generator. Use a speaker system with a subwoofer, placed on ear safety, and slowly scan by means of the frequencies, looking for one which makes some physique half really feel totally different. Notice that you just’ll really feel extra vibration with the decrease frequencies; that’s from these large stress waves. However should you really hit a resonant frequency for a physique half, you’ll possible by no means know. Keep in mind the peanut butter. And don’t do that to your canine.
Please, please take into consideration this if you learn in regards to the magic music for canines that “helps” them by way of resonant frequencies. There’s no proof for that.
Copyright 2026 Eileen Anderson
References
Brownjohn, J. M., & Zheng, X. (2001, June). Dialogue of human resonant frequency. In Second worldwide convention on experimental mechanics (Vol. 4317, pp. 469-474). SPIE.
Christensen, A. B., Tougaard, L., Dyrbye, C., & Vibe-Hansen, H. (1982). Resonance of the human tibia: methodology, reproducibility and impact of transection. Acta Orthopaedica Scandinavica, 53(6), 867-874.
Duarte, M. L. M., & de Brito Pereira, M. (2006). Imaginative and prescient affect on entire‐physique human vibration consolation ranges. Shock and Vibration, 13(4-5), 367-377.
Fonville, T. R., Scarola, S. J., Hammi, Y., Prabhu, R. Ok., & Horstemeyer, M. F. (2022). Resonant frequencies of a human mind, cranium, and head. In Multiscale biomechanical modeling of the mind (pp. 239-254). Educational Press.
Gautam, D., & Rao, V. Ok. (2021). Nondestructive analysis of mechanical properties of femur bone. Journal of Nondestructive Analysis, 40(1), 22.
Ingendoh, R. M., Posny, E. S., & Heine, A. (2023). Binaural beats to entrain the mind? A scientific overview of the results of binaural beat stimulation on mind oscillatory exercise, and the implications for psychological analysis and intervention. PloS one, 18(5), e0286023.
Regulation, J., & Rennie, R. (Eds.). (2019). A dictionary of physics (eighth ed.). OUP Oxford.
Leeds, J. (2010). The facility of sound: The best way to be wholesome and productive utilizing music and sound. Therapeutic Arts Press.
Puerto-Belda, V., Ruz, J. J., Millá, C., Cano, Á., Yubero, M. L., García, S., … & Tamayo, J. (2024). Measuring vibrational modes in residing human cells. PRX Life, 2(1), 013003.
Randall, J. M., Matthews, R. T., & Stiles, M. A. (1997). Resonant frequencies of standing people. Ergonomics, 40(9), 879-886.
Seto, W. W. (1971). Schaum’s define of principle and issues of acoustics. McGraw-Hill.
Shantakumari, N., & Ahmed, M. (2023). Entire physique vibration remedy and cognitive capabilities: a scientific overview. AIMS neuroscience, 10(2), 130.
Wagenaar, R. C., & Van Emmerik, R. E. A. (2000). Resonant frequencies of legs and arms establish totally different strolling patterns. Journal of biomechanics, 33(7), 853-861. (I didn’t cite this examine above; it’s simply cool.)
Photographs
The picture of human physique with traces of “vitality” is from Rolffimages by way of iStock and concerned no use of AI.
The peanut butter graphic was created by me in Canva.
The tibia illustration from Wikimedia Commons is used underneath this license and created by Anatomography.
The 2 pictures of gongs are from Wikimedia Commons. The one on the body is used underneath this license and created by Ermell. The one propped in opposition to a backgrop is used underneath this license and created by Serg Childed. I cropped them each sq..
The picture of Jabba the Hutt from Wikimedia Commons is used underneath this license and was created by Toby Philpott (the puppeteer).
The picture of the tuba from Wikimedia Commons is used underneath this license and created by Buffet Crampon.
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