The Effects of Sounds and Music on Cells and Organisms: A Promising and Developing Area of Research

This review is based on recent publications about the effects of sound, and more particularly of music, on several aspects of physiology. It has been known for a long time that music has effects on the brain and on the functioning of different organs. In recent years, several publications also described specific effects of music on the physicochemical mechanisms in the other organisms, bacteria, plants and animals. These researches being rather disparate in the methodologies used and the results obtained, they need to be classified. In this review, we summarize the studies and attempt to explain the cellular mechanisms involved, by considering the properties of the plasma membrane and its links with the extracellular and intracellular medium. This field of research is currently in full expansion, but still requires further studies to understand and go further in the possible applications, the precise molecular mechanisms of effects of music still remain to be clarified. Keywords: sound, music, plant, animal, unicellular organism