While visiting the Austrian exhibit at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, last year, Headworks co-founder and Honorary Consul of Austria Gerald Seidl met with inventor and musician Walter Werzowa. Walter is Austrian born, but lives in Los Angeles, California, where he immigrated back in the ‘90s to attend a postgraduate program for motion picture and television scoring at USC.
Among his many accomplishments, he created the Intel audio signature, one of the most recognizable sound brands in the world, and worked with Steven Spielberg on the film “Minority Report.” Werzowa started his own company, MusikVergnuegen, which is German for “enjoyment of music.” In addition to the Intel audio mark, Werzowa has written music for other commercials and for more than two dozen movie trailers, including “Men in Black,” “The Crying Game,” “Addicted to Love,” “The Flintstones” and the remake of “Psycho.” From his success with Intel, his firm has immerged as one of the leaders in creating corporate brand mnemonics, creating the audio signatures for companies like T-Mobile, Comedy Central, LG and Samsung.
Researchers at many institutions have been studying the impact of music on people’s health for many years with extremely positive results. The American Psychological Association published an article back in November 2013 entitled “Music as Medicine” citing numerous studies on the benefits of music in healing. For example, researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that listening to and playing music increases the body’s production of the antibody immunoglobulin A and natural killer cells — the cells that attack invading viruses and boost the immune system’s effectiveness. Music also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
So, when Walter and his wife learned that their son had a rare medical disease, they decided that before they tried surgical intervention, they would have him listen to music inlaid with binaural beats and isochronic tones. As stated on the Patient Empowerment Network for cancer patients and their caregivers, “physicians saw a drastic improvement in [Walter’s son’s] condition and began requesting more information from Walter and his wife on how they accomplished such a feat.
Subsequently, Walter decided to share his knowledge of the healing power of music and created HealthTunes™ in the hopes of assisting others who suffer from complex medical conditions. HealthTunes’ MusicMedicine regulates the autonomic nervous system and accelerates endogenous processes. Binaural beats, which are the result of two slightly different frequencies, create a third signal in the brain. Coupled with music, binaural beats restore and balance a patient’s physiology.
Chronic pain patients recorded 30 percent less pain perception after undergoing music therapy. Chemotherapy is very important in fighting cancer, but can have unpleasant side effects. HealthTunes music has been shown to relieve chemotherapy symptoms in patients both during and after undergoing treatment. Therapy for anxiety, depression, stress, as well as numerous other ailments is offered on the HealthTunes site.
Walter and his wife strive to lessen the cost of medical care; therefore, the service is free to all patients. (Donations, however, are accepted and greatly appreciated.) The goal is to allow everyone access to credible medical research explaining the benefits of the music they listen to. Thus, HealthTunes provides all users access to medical research from knowledgeable institutions as well as music therapy all in one place. UCLA Medical Center Nephrology Department and UCLA Center for East-West Medicine endorse HealthTunes. So does the musician Moby who has an interesting interview on Vimeo you can watch here where he explains what is known about music as a healing modality, and what is still not known.
To use HealthTunes, simply go to the website, sign up, and music therapy is at your fingertips. Therapies can be listened to anytime, anywhere internet access is available and no credit card information is necessary. All therapies were created by music composers with medical research in mind to treat specific ailments. You will read, though, on the HealthTunes website that high quality speakers are required to actually hear the embedded tones, so iPhones and laptops won’t work. The site recommends earbuds or headphones if you don’t have high definition sound speakers.
Hello to all HeadsUp Readers! It’s been months since I’ve sent out the HeadsUp newsletter. In fact, the last issue was sent in January. I’ve reread that New Year’s message. It was filled with hope and excitement about this new decade. By the end of January, we all saw what was happening in Europe with […]
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