Music serves many purposes -- to drown out a noisy subway commute, to provide a beat to dance to and to help people relax. The wide range of reasons people listen to music is reflected in Spotify’s curated playlists such as “Life Sucks” and “Dreamy Vibes.” Though the outcome achieved by listening to music differs for each individual, Yadid Ayzenberg, chief technology and product officer at Sync Project pointed to one widespread reason for listening to music. “You realize that people are using music everyday to self-medicate...generally people use music for relaxation,” Ayzenberg said.
Music’s health benefits have long been acknowledged -- ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle noted music’s cathartic properties -- but in the 21st century, technology developed by companies like Sync Project are elevating the uses of music for health up an octave. They are developing music technology that integrates music listening with biometric sensor data collection. This means that the learns from your body to change aspects of music as you listen to it. They have a firm belief that everyone could benefit from health focused uses of music, not just those diagnosed with specific medical disorder.
Ayzenberg said that Sync Project’s goal isn’t to change a listener’s music tastes, but to work with that listener’s preferences to recommend optimal music for relaxation. “You know what type of music you like, you know what works for you,” he said. “We can train machines to recommend the music for you. It’s not so much about us telling you ‘this is the best for you only’ but us understanding what works for you.”
Understanding that music is not one-size-fits-all is key to effective music therapy, said Suzanne Hanser, founding chair and professor of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music. Music therapy uses music in a clinical and evidence-based approach to treat individuals for health conditions such as anxiety.
“You know music that is very special to you. The music we love is very particular to who we are and what we’ve experienced with that music,” Hanser said. “Music a mother has sung to us early in life will carry special meaning throughout our life. Music that has beautiful memories associated with it may even trigger images. You can choose one genre and expect it to have emotional, cognitive impact.”
A popular use of music therapy is to help improve sleep. A 2005 study published in the American Music Therapy Association found that music therapy yielded promise in improving sleep quality for abused women in shelters. Sync Project is expanding on findings like these by developing products that can be used by anyone to relax before sleep, using music personalized to their tastes and needs.
Sync Project launched Unwind with the goal of generating music that helps people sleep. “If you have trouble sleeping, you can just fire it up,” Ayzenberg said. According to a press release from The Sync Project, “Before the music starts you will be asked to hold your phone while still for a few seconds and we will ‘magically’ determine your heart rate. The music will then begin to play using your heart rate as input and then gradually help you unwind from there. We will also ask you about your perceived state of relaxation before and after the music.”
In developing music technology for health and wellness, the human input element is critical, Ayzenberg said. The Sync Project collaborates with artists to finetune the music generation process.
“Artists have a very good gut feeling to the effects music have. It’s not formalized, but they know very well that this music can make you feel sleepy. It’s part of the sense we have as humans as what constitutes as sleepy music.”
While healing through music can be very individualized, music’s healing power are not diminished on a group level, said Hanser. Playing music together facilitates community bonding through active listening.
“When we sing together, we are very intimate with others. It unites us. When we perform together, we have to listen to what’s going on within ourselves and in our environment. It’s a form of communication that’s quite unique to music,” Hanser said. “The more we engage with it, the more our brains are activating new circuitry and exuding chemicals like endorphins and oxytocin. These are feel-good chemicals that demonstrate this peak experience with music.”
In times of disaster, collective healing can take place through music. Part of the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort included musicians performing music to those affected by the disaster.
“Music is something that brings us together like very few art forms,” Hanser said. “Rhythm literally moves us.”