A one-minute singing bowl intervention reduces subjective arousal compared with binaural beats, pink noise, and silence

Abstract

Listening to a singing bowl has been used in therapeutic and everyday settings to decrease arousal, anxiety, negative affect, and to increase positive affect and overall wellbeing. In the current study it was tested whether a one-minute exposure to a singing bowl sound in an online setting reduces arousal and negative affect and increases positive affect. Overall, 92 participants were randomly assigned to listening either to a one-minute singing bowl sound, binaural beat, pink noise, or silence. Current affect and arousal were measured with the Positive and Negative Affect schedule and the Self-Assessment Manikin before and after listening in the respective condition. In addition, personality was assessed. Results indicated that arousal significantly decreased after singing bowl listening, whereas the other three conditions had no such effect. Positive and negative affect did not change after the sound exposure in any of the experimental conditions. Personality traits were unrelated with affect and arousal after listening to the respective sound condition. We conclude that listening to a one-minute sample of a singing bowl presented in an online setting can significantly reduce subjective arousal whereas affective changes may need a longer and potentially a face-to-face intervention.