Frequency Atlas

How this site labels claims

The world of gongs and sound baths mixes measured numbers, arithmetic, tradition and health claims, often in one sentence. This site keeps them apart. Each of the 202 entries carries one of four labels.

Measured or standard

Measured146 entries

Measured directly, or defined by a published standard.

What it means
The number was read off an instrument, or it is set by a published standard. Entries set by a standard, such as the notes of the scale, carry the word Standard in place of Measured.
What it does not mean
That the frequency does anything to a listener. A measured number is a number. Any effect on the body is a separate claim and needs its own evidence.

Examples

See all 146 entries with this label

Derived

Derived33 entries

Calculated from a measured value by a stated method. You can check the arithmetic. What the result means is a matter of interpretation.

What it means
The number was calculated from a measured one by a stated method. The planet tones are the main case: a measured orbit, doubled until it can be heard. You can check the arithmetic yourself.
What it does not mean
That the result was observed. No planet makes the tone that carries its name. What the tone means is a matter of interpretation.

Examples

See all 33 entries with this label

Traditional

Traditional8 entries

Part of a musical, cultural or practitioner tradition. Included because people use it, not because it has been tested.

What it means
The number comes from a musical, cultural or practitioner tradition. It is here because people use it.
What it does not mean
That it has been tested, or that the tradition is as old as is sometimes said. Where the history is known, the entry gives it.

Example

See all 8 entries with this label

Speculative

Speculative15 entries

A claim that has not been established. Evidence is missing, weak, or limited to small studies.

What it means
A claim that has not been established. Evidence is missing, weak, or limited to small studies. The entry reports what is claimed and what studies, if any, found.
What it does not mean
That the claim has been shown to be false. It means this site found no good evidence that it is true.

Examples

See all 15 entries with this label

The rules this site follows

  1. A label is lowered when a source turns out to be weaker than it looked. It is never raised to make an entry more appealing.
  2. Every entry names a source. Where no work could be found that a reader can look up, the entry says so. A source may cover the history of a thing and not its number; such entries are not labeled Measured.
  3. An entry that has been checked against its sources shows the date of the check.
  4. What people say about a tone is kept under its own heading, “What is said about it”, apart from what was measured.
  5. Numbers that can be recalculated are recalculated. A script checks every derived tone against the length of its cycle.

What the tools can tell you

The tools on this site play tones and read your microphone. They can tell you which pitches are in a sound, and how two pitches relate. They cannot tell you what a pitch does to a person.

The gong and bowl sounds are synthesized. They are not recordings of real instruments, and a real gong will sound different.

Nothing on this site is medical advice.

Kinds of statement

Beside its label, each entry says what kind of statement it is.

Physical measurement
A value that was measured, or a range set by a standard.
21
Musical standard
A note or a tuning standard.
109
Octave of an astronomical cycle
A tone calculated from the length of an orbit or a rotation.
19
EEG band
A band used to describe recordings of electrical activity in the brain.
14
Claimed frequency
A number that people make claims about.
13
Instrument
A typical pitch for an instrument.
23
Idea, not a measurement
Part of a set of ideas. Nothing was measured.
3

Check the work