Sound therapy: Unlock emotional and cognitive health through daily music

Sound therapy: Unlock emotional and cognitive health through daily music (Photo: iStock)

Everyone, or nearly everyone, knows what music is. But for the sake of definitions, music is a combination of sound, harmony, melody and rhythm. The output becomes something enjoyable when listened to. Music is considered a universal culture and is found in all human societies. Music genres, or simply styles, are mostly arbitrary and limitless. There are many combinations and overlapping styles, leaving everyone with a choice of music that they find enjoyable. 

Increasingly, music has been recognised to have therapeutic benefits. Brain studies have shown the neurological impact of music, more so with emotions and cognition. Functional brain activity scans show that music lights up multiple parts of the brain, simultaneously impacting both physical and emotional sense centres. This implies that if one part of the brain is damaged, other parts of the brain can still be accessed through music.