University of Pittsburgh
09/25/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/25/2025 08:00
They’re free and can reduce stress by nearly 70%
Peyton Groves was a first-year medical student at Pitt with an overloaded schedule and a case of homesickness when she saw the sign hanging in an office window.
"Come relax and do a sound bath," it read.
Relaxation sounded like just what Groves needed, so taking the sign as a sign, she attended a sound bath session led by Monique Mead, the renowned violinist and director of music entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University.
Groves noticed a profound change almost immediately. She felt calm, centered and able to process the emotions she'd been trying to push away for months.
"Sound can wipe an anxious mind clean," Mead said. "It's tremendously liberating."
How do sound baths work, exactly?
Sound baths use vibration - usually created by crystal singing bowls and percussion - to induce a state of deep relaxation, allowing the body to process stress and promote healing. Or, as Mead likes to say, sound baths offer "all the benefits of meditation without all the effort." Participants simply lie on mats, bolsters or beanbags and breathe deeply while the practitioner plays. It takes less than an hour and its effects can last days.
Plus, it feels really good.
"It's like getting a hug from sound," Groves said.
Mead and Groves admit that the concept of a sound bath can be perceived as "a little woo woo," but sound healing is backed by science and recently studied by researchers in Pitt's School of Public Health. Over six months, those researchers, including Professor Jessica Burke, used pre- and post-session surveys to measure mood and stress indicators of sound bath participants at Carnegie Mellon. Participants reported a 70% reduction in perceived stress and an 80% increase in the ability to relax and focus.
Bringing sound baths to Pitt
Having experienced the power of sound baths for herself, Groves began contemplating ways to bring those benefits to others. Last year, she and several of her fellow Pitt medical students cross-enrolled at Carnegie Mellon to take a sound bath practitioner class with Mead.
This year, the certification they received through that class will pay off for both their patients and their fellow Pitt students.
In October, Groves will begin conducting a study with Christina Pisani-Conway, an assistant professor in Pitt's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. Together they'll lead a series of sound baths for patients who are hospitalized, pregnant and awaiting labor and monitor the effects through patient surveys.
And, Pitt students can now register for sound bath sessions led by medical students at the Recreation and Wellness Center.
Groves encourages all students to try it.
"I can think of virtually nothing else that requires you to do nothing but lie there and you leave feeling better and healthier," she said. "The state of relaxation that you can reach in such a short amount of time is unparalleled."
Any student interested in being trained to lead sound baths can contact Groves at [email protected].
Photography by Alex Mowrey
By April Johnston
University of Pittsburgh published this content on September 25, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 25, 2025 at 14:00 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]