Sound Wellness Initiative

2023 Trends

TREND 1: Sound Wellness Rooms in Spas and Hotels

Spas and hotels are incorporating sound wellness into their facilities. While some spas, such as Burke Williams, feature special massages with sound therapy that may include anything from prerecorded music to live performances of crystal or Tibetan singing bowls, others have a more intentional focus on sound as a singular healing tool. For example, the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel features a sound wellness room. Companies such as So Be It Studios are also working with Six Senses Resorts and Spas and other resort spa developers such as Blu Spas International to co-create sound wellness geodesic structures with a resonating sound floor, as well as music and mediations to enhance spa treatments. Myndstream also develops music written for health and wellbeing in their spa music service.

TREND 2: Sound Wellness Events

As the world returns to face-to-face events following the pandemic, conferences and festivals on sound and music wellness are popping up worldwide. The Sound and Wellness festival In Ireland and its events, co-created by Tessa Ann from Tessa Un Ltd, The Sound Healing Spa, and Braid Arts Centre NI, will explore how concepts and practices using the medium of sound can potentially be used to support wellbeing and a healthy connection to the environment. The Wellnergy Festival is an all-new life, soul, together music, mindfulness, fitness, laughter, and nutrition. The Bali Spirit Festival will be a celebration of yoga, dance, music, and healing in Bali In May 2023. The Wellness Music Festival will be held in Saint Lucia In late September 2023. It will feature a range of experts in the area of Body Science, Fitness, Holistic Practitioners, Nutritionists, Yoga, and Meditation. The musical line-up at the festival will encompass a mix of international, regional, and local artists, creating a quality line-up of artists who are advocates for the wellness lifestyle.

Sound Healing Retreats are continuing to increase in major cities around the world, including ME Time Away’s Sound Healing Retreats in Dubai, Croatia, Germany, and Morocco, Vocal Yoga’s Sound Healing Training in India, Menla’s Sound Healing Immersion Retreat in the Catskill Mountains in New York. Tommy Dill is offering numerous events in the Denver/Boulder area.

Other well-respected sound healing artists and teachers include Tom Kenyon, Jonathon Goldman, and Mathew Kocel. Mathew’s work is also now being used in coordination with Breathwork and other advanced meditation workshops offered by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

TREND 3: Soundscapes

A soundscape is a combination of sounds that arise from an immersive environment, whether a forest, beach, office, or home. Intentional soundscapes are being created to promote health and wellbeing by companies such as Endel and Brandtrack. These can be used in retail establishments or personal spaces. Companies like Endel, LUCID, and GetSound are creating AI-driven soundscapes that incorporate real-time information about an individual’s environment to personalize the listening experience.

TREND 4: Immersive Sound Healing Experiences

Sound plays an important role in immersive art exhibits and healing experiences that aim to incorporate all the senses to facilitate a transcendent sensory experience. Companies like Spatial are creating immersive whole-body experiences with music and sound at their core in various use cases. Spatial’s immersive audio platform combined with HealthTunes evidence-based ‘MusicMedicine’ allows nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals to choose a soundscape such as a forest or a deep-sea dive, combined with low-frequency pulses that entrain relaxed brain states and relax the parasympathetic nervous system to transport staff away from the pressure of the hospital. The award-winning immersive audio company is now delivering Spatial Space Kit, a complete hardware and software package featuring an effortless setup and a robust soundscape library with dozens of Spatial scenes. Space Kit ships with fully-immersive soundscapes that promote wellbeing and productivity, reduce stress, and enable new types of therapies for healthcare and wellbeing.

TREND 5: Increased Research on Sound Wellness

Research grants to study the effect of sound and music on health and wellness are increasing in number, size, and scope. Most notably, the Grammy Museum and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation both have grant programs designed to fund research on the impact of music on health and wellness. The National Institute of Health and the National Endowment for the Arts have teamed up to create the Sound Health Initiative, which funds research on the relationship between music and health and is headed by world-famous operatic soprano Renee Fleming. Two Canadian Universities, the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto, are now hosting music and health research conferences to promote research in this area.