The Power of Sound

Customize your sound environment for a better quality of life • Shows how to use music and sound to reduce stress, enhance learning, and improve performance • Provides detailed guidelines for musicians and health care professionals • Includes a 75-minute CD of psychoacoustically designed classical music What we hear, and how we process it, has a far greater impact on our daily living than we realize. From the womb to the moment we die we are surrounded by sound, and what we hear can either energize or deplete our nervous systems. It is no exaggeration to say that what goes into our ears can harm us or heal us. Joshua Leeds--a pioneer in the application of music for health, learning, and productivity--explains how sound can be a powerful ally. He explores chronic sensory overload and how auditory dysfunction often results in difficulties with learning and social interactions. He offers innovative techniques designed to invigorate auditory skills and provide balanced sonic environments. In this revised and updated edition of The Power of Sound, Leeds includes current research, extensive resources, analysis of the maturing field of soundwork and a look at the effect of sound on animals. He also provides a 75-minute CD of psycho­acoustically designed classical music for a direct experience of the effect of simplified sound on the nervous system. With new information on how to use music and sound for enhanced health and productivity, The Power of Sound provides readers with practical solutions for vital and sustained well-being.

Joshua Leeds is a sound researcher, educator, and music producer with 40 hours of specialized soundtracks used in clinics, classrooms, and animal care facilities worldwide. He specializes in the field of psychoacoustics, the study of the effect of music and sound on the human nervous system, and bioacoustics, how human sound affects other living beings. The author of Through a Dog’s Ear and Sonic Alchemy, he lives in southern Oregon.

Acknowledgments Preface: 2010 and Moving Forward--The Decade of Sound! Introduction Part One Sound 1 What Is Sound? 2 The Physics of Sound 3 The Mechanics of Hearing 4 Resonance, Entrainment, and Pattern Identification 5 Frequency Medicine: The Work of Alfred Tomatis Part Two Sound Awareness 6 A New Awareness of Sound 7 Sonic Safety 8 Neuroscience and Music 9 Music and Sound in Your Life 10 Progressive Sound Health for the Hospital Environment 11 Animals and Sound 12 Current Sonic Media Part Three A Guide to Soundwork Techniques and Applications 13 A Matter of Distinctions 14 The Building Blocks of Therapeutic Sound 15 Sonic Neurotechnologies 16 Applied Psychoacoustics for Health Care Practitioners 17 Advanced Sound Tools and Techniques 18 The Anatomy of Psychoacoustic Music Creation 19 The Sound and Music Alliance (SAMA) Epilogue Glossary ThePowerOfSound.com Sound Remedies Catalog Music for The Power of Sound CD Track Listing Notes Bibliography About the Author Index