Chants across cultures share features that promote relaxation

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence that chants from diverse cultural and religious traditions share a distinct set of acoustic features that may help explain their widespread use in rituals aimed at calming the mind and body. The researchers found that these vocal expressions tend to exhibit flat, low-pitched intonation, minimal variation in pitch, and a preference for mid-central vowel sounds. Listening to these chants appears to enhance relaxation and emotional well-being, suggesting that the structure of chants may have culturally evolved to promote psychological ease.

Chanting is a vocal practice used in many cultures and spiritual traditions, often associated with meditation, prayer, or healing. Despite its global reach, chanting has received limited scientific attention, particularly when compared to other forms of vocal expression like speech or music.

Previous research has shown that certain types of music and vocalizations, such as lullabies, tend to have universal characteristics aligned with their emotional or social functions. However, it remained unclear whether chants shared any consistent acoustic traits across traditions, or whether these traits played a role in influencing how listeners feel.

The researchers sought to investigate whether chants from different parts of the world possess shared acoustic signatures and, if so, whether these features influence how people experience relaxation or emotional shifts. They were particularly interested in whether chanting could be characterized as a vocal form that evolved culturally to support self-regulation and emotional stability.

“I came to chanting first as a person, then as a scientist. Years ago I stumbled into a small community chant and found it helpful; that experience stayed with me through my training in psychology and bioacoustics,” said study author Valentina Canessa-Pollard, senior lecturer in psychology and criminology at the University of Chichester. “I kept wondering why such different traditions could feel similarly soothing, and whether there were shared acoustic ‘ingredients’ behind that effect. This study let our team test that hunch by bridging psychoacoustics, affective science, and contemplative practice.”

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The study was carried out in four stages. The first part focused on analyzing the acoustic properties of chants collected from seven major cultural and religious traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Paganism, and Indigenous practices. In total, the researchers selected 242 high-quality solo chant recordings, performed by experienced practitioners, and compared them to over 700 recordings of speech and song from a wide range of linguistic and cultural contexts.

The analysis showed that chants consistently differ from both speech and singing in several key ways. Chants typically use a flatter intonation, meaning the pitch changes very little over time. They are also delivered in a comfortable, relatively low vocal range, with minimal vibrato or rapid pitch variation.

In addition, chants tended to feature a narrow range of vowel sounds, focusing on mid-central vowels such as the “schwa” sound, which are produced with minimal effort and muscle tension. These acoustic patterns suggest that chanting may be designed, either intentionally or through cultural evolution, to facilitate a state of calm for both the chanter and the listener.

“We were struck by how much convergence there was across traditions on a small set of acoustic ingredients, even when language and context varied,” Canessa-Pollard told PsyPost.

In the second part of the study, the researchers tested how these chants influenced the emotional states of listeners. Sixty-one participants, all native English speakers with no hearing impairments, listened to short excerpts of chants, songs, and speech recordings and rated how each made them feel on ten different scales, including relaxation, alertness, and emotional intensity.

The results showed that chants received significantly higher ratings for relaxation and lower ratings for alertness than both songs and speech. Participants also reported feeling more emotionally moved by chants than by speech, although not necessarily more than by songs.

To further investigate what specific features made chants relaxing, the third part of the study involved altering certain acoustic properties of a subset of chants. The researchers modified recordings to change pitch, tempo, and pitch variation, and asked a new group of participants to rate them.

The results showed that tempo had the strongest effect. Chants presented at their original pace — typically around 60 beats per minute — were rated as the most relaxing and pleasant. Chants that were either sped up or slowed down too much were perceived as less soothing. Changes in pitch and pitch variation had much weaker effects on how the chants were experienced.

In the final part of the study, the team synthesized entirely new chants from scratch, using only repeated vowel sounds and varying the acoustic features identified earlier. This allowed them to remove any influence of language or cultural familiarity. These synthetic chants confirmed the earlier findings. Again, chants played at a moderate tempo and featuring slight vibrato were rated as most relaxing. Mid-back vowels like “o” and “u” also tended to elicit higher relaxation and pleasantness ratings, while chants with no vibrato or overly exaggerated vibrato were rated as less soothing.

“Despite cultural differences, many chants share simple, repeatable acoustic traits (e.g., steady tempo, relatively flat intonation, narrow pitch range, sustained vowels, and predictable phrasing) that are associated with people feeling more relaxed,” Canessa-Pollard said. “The message for non-specialists is that chants can be a low-cost way to downshift arousal and support calm.”

The study presents compelling evidence for shared acoustic features in chants and their role in promoting relaxation, but there are still some limitations to note. Most participants in the listening experiments were English-speaking individuals from Western countries. This raises the possibility that cultural biases may have influenced their responses, even though familiarity with the chants themselves was ruled out.

The researchers also point out that they did not collect physiological data in this study, relying instead on self-reported feelings of relaxation and emotional response. Including objective measures such as heart rate variability, breathing patterns, or brain activity in future work could help clarify how chants affect the body and brain in real-time.

“Our outcomes are primarily self-reported relaxation rather than clinical endpoints, and the work is cross-sectional,” Canessa-Pollard noted. “Cultural context, personal beliefs, and chanting experience are all likely moderate effects, and our recordings can’t capture every real-world nuance (e.g., live acoustics, ritual setting).”

“Next, we plan experimental work that manipulates acoustic features to test causality and include physiological measures (e.g., heart-rate variability, skin conductance). We’re also exploring how brief chanting protocols could be adapted for wellbeing programmes and compared with other low-intensity practices (e.g., breathwork, humming).

“We’re committed to open science and will continue to share materials and summaries in accessible formats,” Canessa-Pollard added.

The study, “Chants across seven traditions share acoustic traits that enhance subjective relaxation,” was authored by Valentina Canessa-Pollard, Andrey Anikin, and David Reby.