The Power of Sound: How to Manage Your Personal Soundscape for a Vital, Productive, and Healthy Life

Discover firsthand in this book/CD set the powerful effects sound has on you and learn to customize your own soundscape for a better quality of life.

• Sound pioneer Joshua Leeds shows how to use music to reduce stress, enhance learning, improve performance, and address conditions as diverse as dyslexia and depression.

• Includes accompanying CD featuring musical examples designed to induce specific mental states such as relaxation, receptivity, concentration, and creativity.

• Includes detailed guides for musicians and healthcare professionals

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 inescapably 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.

In The Power of Sound Joshua Leeds explores the importance of healthy auditory function. He investigates how noise- or stress-induced auditory dysfunction may result in difficulties in learning, communication, and social interactions, and he explains new techniques designed to invigorate auditory skills. The accompanying CD of psychoacoustically refined classical music provides immediate examples of the benefits of music explained in the book. Readers can experience the effects of a variety of sounds and begin the life-enhancing design of their own soundscapes.

His work is based on the premise that sound is a nutrient for the nervous system. Thus different sounds have varying effects on listeners. Although music is sound, not all sound is music. He discusses exactly what sound is, what it does to us, and what it can do for us. He emphasizes that we need to develop "sonic responsibility," that is, an awareness of the sounds continually bombarding us and taking steps to protect ourselves from harmful noises.

Leeds says that "Sound, like other elements, can fuel or deplete us," adding that "increasing noise pollution affects the planet's citizenry physiologically and psychologically."

He explains vibration, resonance, and entrainment, and how those can have a negative or positive effect on people. He then discusses therapeutic uses of sound, and includes a section detailing how to select particular sounds to accomplish certain goals. For example, high sounds will "charge" the system and increase activity, while bass sounds can "discharge" the system and decrease activity.

He also includes information for health practitioners for use in correcting various conditions, such as learning disabilities, relaxation techniques, and reduction of medications.

Extensive appendices provide additional information on music, sound and music therapy, and resources. Leeds also includes a CD with specially orchestrated music designed for motivation, relaxation, learning, inspiration, productivity, and concentration.

Leeds says that "we have come to understand the extraordinary power of the ear. In addition to its critical functions of communication and balance, the ear's primary purpose is to recycle sound and so recharge our inner batteries." Readers will find that The Power of Sound gives them all the information and techniques they need to use their own marvelous ears and sound to enhance their lives.


Are the sounds you live in healing or hurting?   February 28, 2001
 50 out of 51 found this review helpful

Music is one of our most beloved art forms. It endures because of the way it makes us feel. The essence of music is sound. Current research tells us that music -- and all waveforms of sound -- can be a vital stimulant, a "nutrient" for the nervous system with the power to heal ... or harm.

In The Power of Sound: How to Manage Your Personal Soundscape for a Vital, Productive and Healthy Life, researcher, music producer and author Joshua Leeds explores the value of sound and the importance of auditory health. "Our relationship with the world, " he says, "is completely impacted by our ability to process a full spectrum of tone. Auditory sequential process is a cornerstone of short-term memory which is the basis for all thinking. Speaking, listening, learning and physical balance are all impacted by a healthy ear." All in all, sound plays a far greater role in our daily lives than we ever imagined.

Leeds is an expert in the new field of psychoacoustics -- the study of the effects of music and sound on the human nervous system. He's also a pioneer in psychoacoustic music creation, having produced many special classical music programs for therapeutic, education and business applications. A sample CD is packaged with this book.

For those dealing with learning disabilities, difficulties with concentration, emotional reactivity and other modern ailments, Leeds discusses the auditory mechanism as a possible point of remediation. Easy-to-implement sound solutions for enhanced health and peak performance are also included. While scientifically substantial, The Power of Sound is a very accessible read for the lay person. It is a great resource in a groundbreaking field. "Soundwork," says Leeds, "will have tremendous significance in this decade as scientists continue to look to music and sound to enhance health, learning and productivity."