Some Effects of Sound and Music on Organisms and Cells: A Review

In animals, the sound vibrations are captured by the auditory cells, then transformed into electrical signals and conveyed to the nervous centers where they can be interpreted such as music. A lot of studies concern the effect of sound on the auditory cells and on the brain. Nevertheless, musical vibrations also affect other cells types in several organisms. These researches being not of the same nature, they need to be classified in order to provide elements of understanding the effects of music on cell biology. A lot of works were done on the effects of music on non-auditory cells. Effects on growth, apoptosis, immune system, protein activities in animal, plant and bacterial cells have been shown. These effects are of a physiological nature and require molecules and physicochemical mechanisms. Some works were performed on vegetal or animal total organisms, others directly on cells themselves, using cell cultures. Few works concern eukaryotic unicellular organisms. Results of these studies show music and sound exert effects on the physiology. But the experiments and results are still well disparate, with effects of different types of music on organisms via auditory on non-auditory cells, sometimes involving both auditory and non-auditory cells. Whatever the large variation of results, the study of the effects of sound and especially music on the cells is a subject on the future, considering the immense possibilities offered by music in modulating physiology, with potential therapeutic applications.