Solfeggio frequencies: what they are, honestly

Solfeggio frequencies are some of the most searched-for sounds in meditation music, and I make a fair amount of it myself. You'll find a lot of big promises about them online. I'd rather tell you what's actually known.

What they are

The solfeggio frequencies are a set of nine pitches: 174, 285, 396, 417, 528, 639, 741, 852 and 963 Hz. Each has been given a meaning, such as 396 Hz for "liberation" or 528 Hz as the "love frequency", and music built around them is often presented as healing.

Where they come from

The name sounds ancient. It borrows from solfège, the do-re-mi system for singing, which goes back to a medieval hymn. But the nine frequencies themselves are modern. They trace back to Joseph Puleo, who in the 1970s said he had found them through a pattern of numbers in the Bible's Book of Numbers, and they spread widely through books and the internet from the late 1990s onwards.

There's no record of medieval monks singing these exact pitches. Pitch standards in that era weren't fixed, so they couldn't have tuned to 528 Hz even if they'd wanted to.

What the evidence says

There's no scientific evidence that any of these frequencies heals the body, repairs DNA, removes toxins or changes your emotions in a specific way. I don't make those claims for my tracks, and I'd be wary of anyone who does.

What is true is simpler. A steady, pure tone under soft sound can be very calming to listen to, the way a singing bowl or a long held note can be. Some people find particular pitches more pleasant than others, and that's worth exploring for its own sake.

Why I still make them

Because people enjoy them, and so do I. A 528 Hz drone under rain, or the nine frequencies played in turn, makes good music for meditation and winding down. I'd just rather you chose them for how they sound and feel than for a promise they can't keep.

Some of my tracks also combine a solfeggio tone with a binaural beat, for example a 432 or 528 Hz tone with a slow beat underneath. If you'd like to know how that part works, see What are binaural beats?

You can try them yourself in the mixer. The Tones channel plays each solfeggio pitch from 174 to 963 Hz, so you can listen and keep whichever one you like.

For relaxation, not a medical treatment. If you have a health condition, ask your doctor first.