Can Sound Baths Improve Your Health?

Some research suggests the relaxing practice may come with mood and mental health benefits for older adults

Robin L. Flanigan,

AARP

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En español

Published July 21, 2025

woman using singing bowl for sound healing

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The strike of a gong. The beat of a drum. The tinkle of chimes.

These are the makings of a sound bath — a relatively new term for an ancient practice that describes “the feeling of sound waves washing over the body,” explains Tamara Goldsby, a research psychologist in integrative health at the University of California, San Diego.

Also known as sound healing or sound meditation, sound baths are becoming standard practice in spas, yoga studios and other wellness spaces to help people unwind. And research suggests they could come with some health benefits for older adults.

Knowing how to relax is important in the second half of life. Common stressors in older adults — such as chronic illness, grief and loneliness — can lead to inflammation, which can then contribute to a number of other health problems, including arthritis and type 2 diabetes, according to the American Institute of Stress. Anxiety is thought to affect as much as 10 to 20 percent of older adults, although the condition often goes undiagnosed, reports the National Council on Aging.

Sound baths tend to resonate with older adults, no matter their age or mobility level, because they require no learning curve and can be enjoyed while lying on a mat or sitting in a chair.

“It’s very common for participants to fall asleep,” says Goldsby. “You can sometimes hear them snoring.”

How sound baths support a beginner’s mind

Sound baths use a combination of sound, frequency and vibration. Why is this a trifecta worth experiencing? For starters, Goldsby says, the sounds that resonate during sound baths seem to instill a much deeper level of relaxation than one gets from merely listening to calming music. Researchers aren’t clear why these sounds are more effective, Goldsby says, but that is being studied.

Sound Bath Instruments

Types of instruments used in sound baths might include:

A gong
Crystal singing bowls
Metal bowls
Tibetan singing bowls
Tuning forks
Chimes

Source: Cleveland Clinic

Many sound baths use bowls tuned to 432Hz — a frequency often linked with Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, and that some believe can be physically, psychologically and even spiritually beneficial.

As we age, we tend to become increasingly numb to things we experience on a daily basis and can take them for granted — the trees, the clouds, even conversations with our loved ones, says Diana Parra Perez, a mindfulness researcher and assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

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But because no two people play a vibrational instrument exactly alike — or even the same way twice — every sound bath session allows participants to adopt a beginner’s mind. No matter how hard we try, we can’t predict what’s going to come next.

“Eventually, the mind will just give up, and that’s when you fall into a receptive, relaxation state,” explains Perez, who turned to sound baths while simultaneously coping with a divorce, a stressful new job and a sick mother. Sound bath participants often report being “in an in-between state or liminal state,” she says. “They’re not completely asleep, but they’re also not awake; they’re just sort of in a dreamlike state.”

The fact that no two sound bath practitioners are the same “makes this area of study more challenging for research because you can’t really control a lot of the elements that go into what the experience is producing,” Perez adds.

What science says about sound baths

Sound baths are a new area of research. Goldsby was the lead author on one of the most frequently cited articles on the effects of singing bowl sound baths, which was published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine in 2016. Sixty-two people, with a mean age of 49.7 years, reported that Tibetan singing bowl meditation in particular significantly reduced tension, anger, fatigue and depressed mood, and increased feelings of spiritual well-being.

Goldsby’s latest work, published in a 2022 edition of the journal Religions, suggests singing bowls show “considerable promise” in significantly reducing undesirable moods and increasing feelings of inner peace.

One of the most recent studies on sound baths, published in a 2023 edition of the European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, suggests that Tibetan singing bowl sounds could be a helpful intervention for people who occasionally feel anxious.

Setting realistic expectations

Be cautious about any “overly strong” claims that sound healing can be a cure-all, says David Silbersweig, chairman emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “It’s not an area known for its scientific rigor.”

For example, because some of the studies so far on sound healing have been done by “true believers” who may not be objective, Silbersweig has questions: Was the research based on a well-controlled environment? How much of the conclusion is based on a placebo effect? Did any expectations influence either the experiment itself or the interpretation of results? “These are all things that need to be accounted for,” he says.

Although some evidence exists that using sound therapeutically can, in the moment, increase relaxation and feelings of well-being while reducing anxiety and stress, “to be able to say that it’s good for anxiety disorders or major depression is another whole leap and higher bar,” Silbersweig explains.

Silbersweig says he doesn’t want to be “overly negative” about sound baths: “They have calming sounds … and that’s great. But would it be just as good to take a person to a quiet museum and have them look at paintings, or to go to a pond? That’s the question, at least as far as knowing if there is a specific medical or neurobiological effect different from other relaxing sensory experiences.”

What to look for in a sound therapist

Goldsby’s research notes that this “low-cost, low-technology therapeutic tool” holds “considerable potential” for use in clinical, hospital and community settings.

No musical training or experience is legally required for providing sound baths, but therapeutic sound practitioners can become certified through the nonprofit International Sound Therapy Association after completing at least 200 hours of training.

Like 69-year-old Eileen Wolfington from Florissant, Missouri, people who conduct sound baths but aren’t certified often complete courses with such names as “Singing Bowls for the Sick, Frail & Fragile” through online and in-person programs. Wolfington, a former health-and-wellness-program coordinator, says offering sound baths “provides purpose for me during my retirement years” and, even though she’s the one using the instruments, gives her “peace, no matter what’s going on” in her world.

As one might do when looking for a therapist, Perez suggests finding a sound bath practitioner you resonate with. Do you enjoy the pitch of the instruments used? And does the person pass the Goldilocks test — for instance, with crystal bowls, are they struck not too hard and not too soft, but just right?

The most important thing for those interested in sound baths is to be receptive, says Perez.

Even if the effects aren’t long-lasting, Silbersweig believes the immediate benefit of sound baths is valuable: “If this becomes part of one’s routine to reduce stress and they find it helpful, that’s good.”

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