Healing chimes

When considering the health benefits of gardening, sound is a sense that many take for granted.

“People are easily irritated by color or texture, and they won’t accept the visual noise factor, but they will somehow accept sound noise,” says Garry Kvistad, founder and owner of Woodstock Chimes. “It’s not only bad for your hearing, it’s nerve-racking.”

Wind chimes are crafted to produce sounds that are soothing, but some are constructed with health in mind. Kvistad collaborated with sound therapist Dr. John Beaulieu and jazz musician Jack DeJohnette to create the Awakening Bell, which produces 512 pulses per second and is said to "resonate with an area of the brain that controls stress," according to Woodstock's website.

“[Beaulieu] claims this frequency helps put us in a sedative, relaxed state and allows us to really connect and heal significantly [when the bell is played],” Kvistad says. “Everybody has different tolerances and connections and different reactions to certain prescription drugs. I think the same is true of frequencies.”

Wind chimes that mimic specific sounds can also evoke calm emotions. Connie Davidson, owner of North Country Wind Bells, says her father, the company’s founder, worked as a lobsterman and was moved by the ocean and bell buoy noises, the inspiration for the chimes.

“It’s a sound of security. When someone is sailing and it’s foggy and they aren’t sure of their way, there will be the buoy markers, and many have gongs on them,” Davidson says. “If there is thick fog you can still hear the bell and know you’re in the right place.”

People often memorialize lives with wind chimes, too. St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., has a bell tower filled with Woodstock Chimes to memorialize students who died while enrolled.

“It’s a nice tribute to know there is a sound associated with an individual instead of just a name engraved in the stone,” Kvistad says. “People often want a certain sound that they can connect to.”

Listen to the sounds of the Memorial Chime Tower at St. Olaf College.