Do digitized sound files cause negative effects on the human
body?
Human Stress Provoked By Digitized Recordings. John Diamond, MD
Source:
Summary:
In this article, Dr. John Diamond states that there is a
strong correlation between music and healing. He had used classical music
played by a phonograph for therapeutic purposes and gained successful results.
However, in 1979, he realized that the therapeutic effects did not last – in
fact his patients had negative effects due to listening to the music. After a
long investigation, he came to the conclusion that the phenomena occur through
the use of digital recordings. When he played an analog version of a classical
music work to his patient, he was able to gain the therapeutic effects, but as
soon as a digital version of the same piece was played, the undesired symptoms
appeared (muscle weakness, augmentation of stress). He claims that a human
voice recorded by a digital device can also cause negative effects. Dr. Diamond
emphasizes that he has led research regarding the effect of digital music by
collaborating with other researchers. He also conducted many double blind tests
in order to obtain accurate results. He points out that most of therapeutic
recordings have been produced by the digital process, which weakens not only
the muscles of the human body, but also the human mind and mental states. At the
end of the article, he added an anecdote about the major recording and
electronic companies that had been against his research results in the 80’s. In
2001, they contacted Dr. Diamond, saying that they knew the negative effects of
digital sound, but they were obliged to release CDs. They asked him for help in
finding a solution to the digital fatigue. He wraps up his article by
mentioning the importance of escaping from the digital sound which releases us
from the hatred of life.
Reflections:
I have been interested in the therapeutic effect of digital
and analog music. There is no question about positive effects of unplugged
acoustic instrumental sound, but the effect of digitized sound files has always
been a question for me. Surprisingly, it was very difficult to find articles or
research papers regarding this subject. Dr. John Diamond claims that digitized
sound files absorb humans’ “life energy” the way white sugar weakens the immune
system. Diamond is a physician and also an applied kinesiologist. I watched his
muscle testing videos, and it was quite surprising that all the volunteers
showed negative reactions while listening to a digitized sound file. (Dr.
Diamond applied a deltoid muscle strength test to the volunteers.) He wrote
this article in the year 2000, and he added postscripts in 2003 and 2006. I
also found his recent AK demonstration video clips on YouTube. Dr. David
Hawkins also calibrated the energy level of music by applying the Applied
Kinesiology methods. However, I was not able to find any other reliable
resources of pro or cons about this subject. I agree with his idea that
listening to digital sound files – especially compressed mp3 files – gives
negative effects, but the impact might be different depending on personal
deviation. In his recent video, he states that he has produced CDs treated by
one of his methods which do not weaken and absorb human life energy. (Watch the link below.)
Many neuro-scientists – including Jourdain – have conducted
research on the effect of sound on the human auditory system, but none of them
have decoded the effects of a sound type itself to the brain, as far as I know.
I would like to share opinions about the effects of digital
sound on the human body.
References
"Digital Fatigue in Music,
Diamond (2008) & Jungleib (2011)." YouTube. Accessed December 1, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4oU2qTreA0.
John, Diamond. "Dr. Diamond MD - Human Stress Provoked
By Digitized Recordings." Accessed November 30, 2014.
http://www.drjohndiamond.com/digital/717-human-stress-provoked-by-digitized-recordings.
7 comments:
François,
The subject of your blog post has interested me for a long time; but I didn’t know about Diamond’s research. His suggestion that digitized sound may have negative impacts on body, mind, and mental states is striking! I have research interests that intersect with this topic, so anything else you may find about this, please let me know. Thanks for this information; it is very useful to me.
This is an interesting topic. I know many people who insist that analog recording and sound reproduction are superior to digital technologies. Similarly, there are photographers who only shoot on film, or even only on black and white film. Of course, these opinions are based on subjective evaluations, (e.g. "vinyl sounds warmer," "film is richer"). As far as digital recordings, something to consider might not be the medium but the techniques used during mastering. For example, digital tools offer many options for compression and boosting sound, and I have heard that recordings have become louder and less dynamic in the past few decades. Also, it seems that the quality, or size of the digital file would be an important thing to test. For example, which kind of digital recordings are the most offensive?
First of all, I agree, although Jourdain conducted research on the effect of sound on the human auditory system, no neuroscientists decoded the effects of a sound type itself to the brain. Dr. John Diamond's therapeutic research is very interesting in that he believed digitized music was the issue for unsuccessful results in 1979. I question the medical history of each of the patients. What is their psychological life story? What other types of stress was that subject experiencing until 1979 or during the experiment? Could these answers affect the way our brain responds to types of sound? If I think of the world of harmonics, I can validate that the true harmonics within sound and pitch within a digitized recording is not at its fullest compared to a live acoustic performance. Also, in a digitized recording, listeners only hear what the editor wanted to hear. If he or she wanted more violin sound in a certain section of music, then they would increase the volume of that string section. During a live performance, we as listeners have the option to block out the sounds we do not like, and accept the sounds we do like. I suspect the lack of harmonics play a large role in this discovery. I think it is really interesting that the sound acoustic world believes that calibrating the energy level of music to Applied Kinesiology methods - I did not know this information. I, too agree that listening to digital sound files – especially compressed mp3 files – gives negative effects, but the impact might be different depending on personal deviation.
Thank you so much for this wonderful article really!
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