The Battle of Frequencies: Unveiling the Secrets of 432Hz vs 440Hz Tuning
Have you every tried to sing Happy Birthday in a big group of people and noticed that there are multiple starting notes? I sure have, and it didn’t sound good! It could be that you’ve all started singing in different keys or in fact you are starting on the exact note but a slight variation of it.
To understand this better we must first realise that there are 12 notes on a piano with varying octaves of each note (higher and lower), but each of the 12 notes has 100 variations of the note. These are measured by cents.
Take the middle C note on a piano. This can be played in 100 different variations. If it is a standard tuned piano the middle C would be C0 then there are 50 variations above marked by + and 50 below marked by -. Sounds complicated? To the untrained ear, you very likely wouldn’t hear any difference if the cents are within around 15 of each other. If you added a second piano and played both at the same time but one was C0 and the other was C-20 then you would hear a difference between the notes. In fact, you would likely notice a third sound which we call a binaural beat. So even when you play the exact same song, same notes and same instruments there can be a slight difference and that discordance can be unpleasant.
In the example of the two pianos playing together, if they notes are all slightly out within a song this is going to sound really weird. If you had 2 guitarists, an entire band or orchestra imagine the cacophony of noise if everyones instruments were tuned to their own thing. In order for instruments to sound pleasant when they are played together, in 1936 the American Standards Association recommended that all instruments be tuned to 440z. Which means that the middle A on a piano/keyboard below the middle C in the 4th octave is vibrating at 440 cycles per second. By 1955 the International Organisation for Standardisation also agreed to this tuning and it became the global standard tuning. This is how a piano in Tooting and a piano in Timbuktu can sound exactly the same.
440hz VS 432hz
There is some speculation that 440hz isn’t as pleasant on our system with studies on its effects on the body and mind vs 432hz. Stress levels, heart rate and blood pressure were measured on participants who listen to the same music twice, once at 440hz and also at 432hz.
The results showed that the high-frequency sound exposure immediately showed its detrimental effect on heartbeats after a short adaptation period in the 440 Hz group and the average values decreased to half of the normal values.
All popular music is now tuned at 440hz so you would have certainly experienced it before. There are some theories that 440hz was deliberately chosen to oppress people and is a secret military weapon. Whatever you believe, many sound healers instruments will be detuned to 432hz.
Why 432hz?
432 Hz resonates with 8 Hz (the Schumann Resonance), the documented fundamental electromagnetic “heartbeat” of Earth.
Research says that music tuned from this frequency is easier to listen to, brighter, clearer, and contains more inherent dynamic range. As a result, music with this tuning need not be played at higher volumes and thus reduces the risk of hearing damage.
Summary
It would be difficult in todays modern world to avoid music tuned to 440hz altogether but perhaps be conscious of how you are feeling when listening to music, if you’re suddenly experiencing anxiety, negative thoughts, stressed feelings out of the blue then perhaps you are being effected by the frequencies. There are many songs that claim to be tuned to 432hz on platforms such as Spotify and YouTube.
If you would like to experience sound healing at 432hz and 528hz then book a sound healing with me.