Tactile Sound: music for the whole body
Tactile sound is the sensation of sound transmitted directly to the human body by contact, rather than by sound waves through the ears. Sound in the natural world exists across a wide spectrum of frequencies and biologically it takes both hearing and feeling to perceive the full range (to learn more about this please visit Vibrations). The Sensorium environment is capable of reproducing ultra-low frequencies in the “kinesthetic” range (0-30Hz) and captures the physical action of sound wave motion, transferring it to the sense of touch via vibration.
“The whole mechanism, the muscles, the blood circulation and the nerves are all moved by the power of vibration. Sound has an effect on each cell of the body, for each cell resounds, on all glands, on the circulation of the blood and on pulsation, sound has an effect.”
~Hazrat Inayat Khan
The transmission of vibrations from a vibrating body to another body is called resonance. Author of Conceptual Physics, Paul G. Hewitt, says that “compared to solids and liquids, air is a relatively poor conductor of sound.” The human body is primarily composed of water and sound waves travel five times faster through water than air, making the body’s waters an excellent conductor for sound. It also travels much more efficiently through the mediums of metal and wood both of which are the primary materials of the TAIZ Sensorium .
Tactile sound stimulates the brain and the neural network increasing serotonin, dopamine and other neuropeptides that help to optimize performance. In the last century, sound therapy has been deeply influenced by the research of French physician Dr. Alfred Tomatis. One of his major discoveries was that the ear’s first function in utero is to govern the growth of the rest of the physical organism and in addition to the ear’s functions of communication and balance, the ear’s primary purpose is to charge the nervous system and neocortex of the brain with electrical impulses created by sound. Tomatis concluded that sound is a “nutrient” and we hear not only with our ears but also with the entire body through skin and bone conduction. He believed that the body hears and this takes place through the perception of tactile sound. When music is heard through the body as well as the ears, it has a broader and deeper capacity to engage the senses, stimulate the mind and relax the body.