Is Silent Healing CD Really Silent?

[okjhum]

Silent Healing
http://www.wds-global.co.uk/products/silenthealing.aspx

Here is an incredible hoax to debunk. I will need a little help with the maths, just. See below.
Background, see the link. This expensive audio CD contains - yes, 74 minutes silence! :-)
Even in four different, named tracks with durations:
1. Preparation 4.01
2. The Clearing 4.05
3. The Attunement 3.52
4. The Full Session 61.16

The website promises:
"Our research has shown that selected bio-resonance patterns are beneficial in restoring the balance of the subtle energy systems within the body’s bio-field. Our engineers have encapsulated these patterns onto the Silent Healing® audio CD. The CD releases the bio-resonance patterns into the body's bio-field when it is played back through the amplifier and speakers. The effective range of Silent Healing® depends on the power of the amplifier and speakers. (A small CD player would be sufficient for a large size room)."

I bought the CD and ventured an acoustical analysis:
First I played the audio CD in the PC and recorded some of it with PolderbitS Sound Recorder (http://www.polderbits.com/), that claims to catch everything that goes out through the speakers.
Next, I used the sound editor program Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to amplify a representative 34 seconds of the recording by 50 dB (!) three times over.

Finally, I analysed the resulting sound with Praat (http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/), a powerful software for phonetical analysis. It would give me the oscillogram, spectrogram, pitch curve, and intensity curve.

Result: Nil. A straight line. Not even a background noise. In a 9 second segment, the intensity read-outs were: -300 dB (maximum intensity in SELECTION)
-300.00000000000006 dB (mean-energy intensity in SELECTION)
-300 dB (minimum intensity in SELECTION)

If there is a way of posting images, tell me and I shall post the "curves".

Here is my arithmetic problem. It's too easy (for me) to get dB calculations wrong:
Considering that an increase by roughly 3 dB is a doubling of intensity, and I amplified the original sound in Audacity by 50 dB, then the result again by 50, and that again a third time by 50 dB, does that mean that I amplified the sound by 50 * 50 * 50 = 125,000 dB, and that divided by 3 makes more than 41,000 doublings?
Or is it rather 50/3 + 50/3 + 50/3 = 50 doublings?
Or something in between, i.e., 50/3 * 50/3 * 50/3 = about 4,600 doublings?
How many "times" amplification is 50 "doublings"?
Anyhow whatever, there is nothing physical in this CD except the plastic.
Cheers,
Olle

 

[okjhum]

With BBEdit on the Mac I could reveal a hidden file ".TOC.plist" on the audio CD. Obviously only the table of contents in xml. To me, an amateur, it looks unremarkable.
The "sound" files, by the way, are in .aiff format.
/Olle

 

[okjhum]

With almost 100 views and no answer yet, obviously I have to re-state my question more clearly:
Q: How do I calculate the total amplification in this case?
I used Audacity/Effects/Amplify to amplify a very silent sound track by 50 dB. Still too silent, I repeated the procedure - twice more!
Considering that approx 3 dB is double, what is the total amplification here - A, B or C?

A. (50*50*50)/3 = 125,000/3 = more than 41,000 times??
B. 50/3 + 50/3 + 50/3 = 50 times?
C. 50/3 * 50/3 * 50/3 = about 4,600 times?

 

[Borek]

Why don't you just open aiff file to see if it contains anything else but zeros?

 

[okjhum]

I opened it in BBEdit, but it was empty! :-)
However, other sound files (with speech or music) variably open and reveal the code, or look just as empty as these aiff files, so I didn't dare to trust my eyes. I don't understand what causes the variation.

PS: Have you read the nonsense in their web site? Quite fun! :-)

 

[okjhum]

More nonsense here. On the CD cover, there is a text in red font and within a red rectangle, that warns:

"DO NOT TRY TO COPY THIS DISC: This CD has a proprietary built in copy protection programme which will prevent this original as well as any copy from working. This CD should therefore not be copied to another CD, computer or any other form of media including MP3 players."

Although I don't believe that any program can alter the CD hardware nor software, I suppose this warning will prevent the customers from complaining. Clever!

 

[NobodySpecial]

This expensive audio CD contains - yes, 74 minutes silence! :-)
Even in four different, named tracks with durations:
1. Preparation 4.01
2. The Clearing 4.05
3. The Attunement 3.52
4. The Full Session 61.16

What happens if you play them in the wrong order?

 

[ShawnD]

What happens if you play them in the wrong order?

Slow and painful death.

I used Audacity/Effects/Amplify to amplify a very silent sound track by 50 dB. Still too silent, I repeated the procedure - twice more!

Amplifying by 50dB three times would be (100000)^3 = 1,000,000,000,000,000 times as loud

Bel is an exponential unit. Each bel means the ratio increases by a factor of 10. 5 bels would be 10^5, and thrice would be 10^5^3

 

[FlexGunship]

Given that common headphone have a sensitivity on the order of 90dB/mW and audiophile or studio headphones have a sensitivity of about 120dB/mW, I think you would find that most listening devices are incapable of reproducing that perfect of a silence anyway. If it's a CD, then the output is digital to analog voltage converter.

The claimed silence's tolerance values are probably smaller than the noise in the system and it might even be on par with the actual resolution of the DAC.

You're better off sticking your head in a vacuum chamber.

 

[GeorginaS]

You're better off sticking your head in a vacuum chamber.

I don't happen to have one of those lying around, though.

And, also, would I be better off? I'm trying to feature the benefit of sticking my head in a vacuum chamber in the first place.

 

[okjhum]

Lacking a vacuum chamber, I'll try my vacuum cleaner. But it is "deafinitely" not silent... :-D

 

[okjhum]

What happens if you play them in the wrong order?

They can be played in any order. It behaves just like an ordinary audio CD.

 

[NobodySpecial]

They can be played in any order. It behaves just like an ordinary audio CD.

Bu does it have the same beneficial effect ?

 

[FlexGunship]

Bu does it have the same beneficial effect ?

Yes. It has exactly the same beneficial effect.

 

[lisab]

Yes. It has exactly the same beneficial effect.

No no no, your chakras would be all disordered and discombobulated. That takes a fortune to fix, you know.

 

[okjhum]

Incredibly, the silent sound has the corresponding effect as the black electric light bulb: When you switch it on the room gets dark, or silent, respectively. :-D

Depending on the order you play them, you will get different shades of silence...

 

[JohnnyB81]

Hi all,

I have this CD and yes, on a computer or normal stereo it has no or very little sound...

But having experimented a little, I hooked up a personal cd player to a guitar amp, turned it up full blast there is definitely something there. It is not like random white noise, as I have tried the same set up with playing back a blank recording.

If you have this paticular CD already, why not try it as I did and (possibly) you'll also hear a series of tones as it plays through. Its not completley silent, but it is very subtle.

I agree - The CD copy protection warning is a lame attempt to stop copying. But that aside, experiment as above, and see if you can get anything from it.