Scientific publication on Music Tuned to 440 Hz versus 432 Hz and the Health Effects

I guess this explains why low, rumbling drone music puts me in a pleasant, catatonic state. :relieved:

There is nonsense put about saying that 432Hz is the ''frequency of the universe". Such anti-scientific rubbish. A particularly stupid new age meme. Proponents forget that pitch standards have been all over the place for centuries, and that there is not a shred of any basis in physics or physiology or any other rational discipline for this frequency, and it’s only A in any case. What about the other pitches? Many French harpsichords in 18c were tuned at A392 and so on. Were people even calmer then, or were they way below this mystical frequency? There are a lot of bansuri makers who produce A432 instruments who seem to be riding the wave of this bizarre idea that people seem to want to belive in. And the study is N=33? Give me a break please.

Here’s a good example:

Sigh.

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The firmament must have a resonance. It’s actually perfectly rational, just like the rest of creation, music especially :slight_smile: Imo, they should probably use the harmonic series or music written in just intonation for these tests instead of 12TET.

I like to tune at 0410 because it’s my bday

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in this case I should tune to 0420 :sunglasses:

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Let me quote Adam: “A432 is a road that runs from Bristol to Old Sodbury…”

I tried once to find the frequency of my tinnitus, but it is so high that I could not find a reference. I thought that maybe using a scale and a tuning matching the frequency of it would a good experiment…

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The access to the full paper costs $ 55.

Here ya’ go.

https://sci-hub.st/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2019.04.001

As stated before, the sample size is awfully small. And one group was twice as large as the other, which is potentially important because the one group listened in reverse order relative to the other. The paper claims the same trend was observed in both groups, but doesn’t show data to back it up - the paper only shows the combined aggregate.

A few other variables I think should be accounted for, but no mention in paper -

  • Were the light levels consistent?
  • Was the weather consistent? (barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, both in study room, and outside)
  • Was the time of day consistent? I’m sure there are many more things to consider.

Even if the results are reproducible with a larger sample size and better controls, the test should be run with an entire series of frequency tunings to see what the optimal frequency is. No reason to assume 432 or 440 would be optimal.

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The whole thing about 432 being in harmony with the Schumann resonance at “nearly 8Hz” is total B.S.

The actual value is 7.83 Hz.

If having a frequency that is an integral multiple of the Schumann resonance is ideal, then the the A should be tuned to 422.82, or 430.65, or 438.48, or…

Certainly not 432. The fact that the authors buy into the Schumann resonance relationship theory as being important to why 432 is ideal, that pretty much does it for me. I don’t think they could publish anything that would make me take them seriously.

Let’s hypothetically assume that there is something legitimate with the Schumann resonance theory. Then do your grade school mathematics correctly.

But I can’t entertain the idea that tuning any note to be “in harmony” with the Schumann resonance frequency can possibly help modern western music - equal temperament quickly destroys any such harmony if you are playing any other note than that one A.

I’m a sucker for a good drone, but not to the exclusion of everything else.

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I made myself a bit crazy some years ago by testing different tunings… sometimes the 432Hz sounded better, sometimes the 440Hz sounded better.

Not so long ago I made a custom scale on my monologue, which was interesting because I identified a special pitch for each note of the 12 tone scale that seemed to be exactly right and in most cases I could clearly identify it, but I don’t know if those pitches are something special for me or if it is my room and those pitches were the ones that resonated best with the room. Some of those notes I discovered were also part of one of the special Aphex Twin scales that come with it, so I felt a bit approved by that. :slight_smile:

In the end everything that is not 440Hz 12TET sounds a bit weird at first when you listen to standard tuning all the time and then suddenly your track is tuned differently. Also I don’t really like just intonation, because it tends to sound sterile, especially with synths. Different tunings can be super nice, but in most cases they are just annoying, so it’s hard to find something that really works for me and I usually just leave it be.

What 432Hz really relates to is the second as time measurement, since in a just intonation the C is exactly at 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512… Hz and someone wrote that “C is the tone of the earthly realm,” so this made enough sense for me to try it :slight_smile: but as I already wrote my results were mixed…

Have fun with all sorts of different tunings, but if it sounds like weird mush in the end just switch back to standard tuning and it should be ok. :wink:

I’m with Adam Neely here. You need to watch the whole video…

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As a trombone player, here are some thoughts from the world of acoustic instruments.

In the beginning of the 20th century, brass instrument builders switched from what was called “low tuning” to “high tuning”. This meant that older instruments could not be used anymore in combination with newer instruments.

I mention this because a musical instrument is built to a certain tuning. You cannot tune it down (or up) too much without running into issues.

For instance, on a trombone the distances between positions (on the slide) change. But also the tone of the instrument changes.

Another example would be the guitar. If you tune down the strings (to Eb, like Hendrix did), you will change the tone of the instrument, because there’s less tension on the strings than in standard tuning. So they will vibrate more freely, and that’s a great sound.

But what if the instrument were built for Eb tuning, and the strings too? That would give a different sound.

The whole point I am making is, that you cannot simply tune down an instrument, or change the speed of a tape, or re-sample the whole track to a slower speed (artifacts will show up) and claim that the results you are seeing are because of the new tuning.

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To give the discussion a new dimension. What if I use a scale like Bb minor where no pitch at A = 440/432 Hz appears?

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Probably the same thing as when you play in A minor with A tuned to 466.16/457.69 Hz. Be careful with that though, because that’s obviously very high!

You might only be able to withstand it for elongated periods of time if you are very high yourself.

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Since this looks like a linear relationship (and people in general like linear relationships even in nonlinear circumstances). it would be cool if the conclusion also pointed out that if the tuning goes down to 0 Hz the blood pressure goes down to 0 too.

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Yes, I was thinking the same. I think the proponents believe that once you (mistakenly think) the A is in harmony with the Schumann resonance at 432, then all the other notes are as well by virtue of being harmonically in sync with the A. That is why I brought up equal temperament - it just simply can’t work with modern Western music.

I’m not going to discount the possibility that there may be an ideal tuning for human physiology, but the poorly thought out “scientific” explanations as to why 432 tuning is supposedly ideal are garbage.

It doesn’t strike me as something likely, but then I recall how a lot of cars used to have resonant frequencies that came apparent whenever they hit certain speeds. My mum’s old mk i Escort would shudder like mad between about 45 and 50 mph, but be fine outside of those speeds.

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A good audiologist and an exam should be able to identify the frequency of your tinniitus. Mine, I think is different in each ear.

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They don’t say what keys the tunes were in. What if they selected tunes written in different (eg, lower) keys, but still with the A 440 reference? Or minor keys vs major keys? I would think that that has a greater effect on the listeners’ mood.

And why not down-tune by two whole semitones, like many metal guitarist do?

Down-tuning a guitar or using lighter gauge strings also makes it easier to bend notes. (Not actually a feature I always like, and it can mess up the intonation)

As it happens, my favourite guitar (that I own) is a Squier Jaguar. The shorter scale lets me use heavier gauge strings with more normal tension.

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resonances (plural) :grinning: