Sound healing is an ancient practice that spans centuries and cultures, from Gongs in 4,000 B.C., Tibetan singing bowls in the 12th century, and Australian Didgeridoos 1,500 years ago. Sound has long been recognized as a means to improve health, speed healing and promote balance between the body and mind. In Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions sound is believed to have been  the spark of the universe and is manifested as Verb and Word. In India, it is the god Krishna who creates through the sound of the flute. In African and American ancient cultures sound is  believed to be responsible for the genesis of the universe. The ancients understood the connection between sound and manifestation and the ability for sound to affect form. The Buddhists and Hindus knew thousands of years ago that sound possessed geometry. At the end of the eighteenth century, the musician and physicist, Ernst Chladni  demonstrated the relationship between vibration and form. In his experiments he placed sand on a metal plate and then played a violin perpendicular to the plate. As the sound waves from the violin reached the sand the sand formed geometrical shapes. In the 1900s Hans Jenny built on Chladni's work by showing how sound vibrations formed patterns with liquids, powders and fluid pastes. He went on to invent the tonoscope to measure the effects of the human voice on various materials and media. This device was used to  record the  chant Om, the Hindu primordial sound of creation. The sound waves of the chant Om created a visual pattern of the  mandala Sri Yantra, the Hindu symbol that represents the cosmos and the human body.  Masaru Emoto, a Japanese researcher,  further studied  the effect of sound on  creating visual patterns in his experiments of photographing frozen water crystals. He found that different and more complex crystals were formed depending on the type of music the freezing water was exposed to during his experiments.

The investigation of the power of sound on the human body  was reintroduced when in 1839 Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, the Father of Accoustics, discovered the binaural beat. He found that  when one tone is heard in one ear and a different tone heard in the other  a new tone is produced.  In the 1970s Gerald Oster  further researched the effect of the binaural beat and discovered  that when listened to it leads to improved synchronization of the brain providing clarity, calmness, improved focus and attention and enhanced communication between the mind and the body. 

Modern science has also discovered that our brain emits different brain wave patterns depending on its state. The Beta brain wave patterns occur during active  focused activities such as being in a debate or when learning a new task.  The Alpha state  occurs  when we are more relaxed, for example when we are day dreaming.  Theta brain waves are even slower and occur just before sleep and are considered to be more conducive to creative thoughts; this has also been referred to as the hypnagogic state in which many artists, and inventors have found inspiration for their creations.  Finally, the Delta brainwaves occur when we are sleeping. In general, Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwave frequencies promote deeper relaxation, and meditative states. 

Sound healing  has continued to be researched with the emergence of quantum physics and the understanding that everything is vibration.   Dr. David Simon, medical director of the Deepak Chopra Center, "found that sound vibrations from Tibetan bowls and chanting are chemically metabolised into 'endogenous opiates' These substances act on the body as internal pain killers and healing opiates". 

Additional research by John Beaulieu discovered that vibration has been found to play an important role in maintaining the body's ability to produce nitric oxide. His experiments measured increased nitric oxide levels in blood while using tuning forks on the body. Nitric oxide was named molecule of the year in 1992 for it's role in maintaining the health of the human body. In 1998 Robert F. Furchgott, Ferid Murad and Louis J. Ignarro won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for the discovery of nitiric oxide's key role as a critical signaling molecule in cardiovascular physiology. The discovery that nitric oxide levels can be enhanced through the use of sound therapies has significant implications for the healing capacity of sound interventions.

 In a 2010 YouTube video, Gregg Braden shares a video of an ultrasound showing a cancerous tumor in a bladder being dissolved over the course of 3 minutes as people chanted over the woman with the tumor. Pretty amazing and worth watching!

A  2013 TED TALK featuring Anthony Holland, Associate Professor, Director of Music Technology at Skidmore College, shows video of cancer cells being destroyed with resonate sound frequencies.