Sound Effect of a Music Box on EEG

It has been pointed out that the sound of a music box has a higher frequency over the audiblerange and that both the high frequency and its peculiar rhythm have a relaxation effect on listeners. One of the music therapies to make use of this effect as a healing method is the music box therapy. Therefore, the sound effect of a music box on the EEG and light topography was examined. Generally , a healthy person, physically relaxing with closed eyes, produces on alpha-wave pattern predominantly around the occipital region, and as the person becomes more relaxed, an increase of alpha-wave power and slow-wave power are observed. However, in this study using the sound of a music box in a relaxed condition, not only the increase of alpha-wave power and slow-wave were observed, but also the power of other frequency waves (especially beta-wave) increased. In this experiment, there was a chance to measure the EEG of a patient with peripheral sensory disturbance after cerebral thrombosis when the music box therapy was given, and a remarkable increasing tendency of beta-wave power was observed in this patient. These data show that the sound of a music box not only activates the cortex, but also influences the internal brain-wave activities through osteophony with its high frequency.