Can Vibroacoustic Stimulation Affect Vagal Tone? What a 2024 Study Found

Yes—vibroacoustic stimulation may influence vagal tone, but the evidence is still early. A 2024 study measured changes in heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) while adults experienced low-frequency vibration paired with a nature soundscape. The researchers saw patterns associated with increased parasympathetic activity, including lower heart rate and increases in RMSSD and high-frequency HRV.

That caught my attention because SoundBlanket was built around a simple idea: music can be more than something we hear. It can be something we physically feel.

What did the 2024 vibroacoustic stimulation study test?

A team at the University of Southern Denmark asked whether vibroacoustic stimulation could influence the autonomic nervous system. Their results were published in Sensors in 2024.

The study enrolled 40 adults between the ages of 20 and 35. Two participants were excluded from the final analysis, leaving data from 38 people.

Participants lay on a wooden vibroacoustic platform fitted with three transducers. The platform delivered low-frequency vibration in the 20–80 Hz range while participants listened through headphones to a 45-minute nature soundscape. The researchers recorded electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) data before, during and after the session.

What happened to heart rate and HRV?

During the session, average heart rate decreased. Two heart rate variability measures—RMSSD and high-frequency HRV—increased. Both are commonly used to study the beat-to-beat variation associated with parasympathetic activity.

The researchers interpreted that pattern as an increase in parasympathetic activity and cardiac vagal tone. Some of the changes continued into the five-minute period after the session ended.

That is what made me stop and look twice. The participants were not simply describing how they felt; the research team was recording measurable physiological signals while sound was being physically felt.

Why does vagal tone matter?

The vagus nerve is a major communication pathway between the brain and many of the body’s organs. It is part of the parasympathetic nervous system—the branch often associated with rest, regulation and recovery after stress.

Vagal tone is a shorthand researchers use when discussing how that system is functioning. It cannot be reduced to one perfect number, but HRV measures such as RMSSD and high-frequency HRV can offer a window into parasympathetic activity.

Did the vibration stimulate the vagus nerve directly?

No. That distinction matters.

This was not electrical vagus nerve stimulation, and it was not vibration targeted at the ear. The researchers did not directly stimulate or measure the vagus nerve itself. They measured heart-rate patterns associated with parasympathetic activity and cardiac vagal tone while participants received whole-body vibroacoustic stimulation.

The result is intriguing. It is not the same as proving that vibration directly activates the vagus nerve.

Why did this catch my attention as the founder of SoundBlanket?

When I started building SoundBlanket, I was focused on a simple problem: how could music become something the whole body experiences, not just the ears?

I was not trying to turn music into a medical device. I was trying to bring back a dimension of sound that conventional speakers often leave behind—the physical feeling of it.

SoundBlanket was not used in this study, and the researchers’ setup was different from ours. Their platform used three transducers, a defined low-frequency range and a fixed nature soundscape. SoundBlanket uses 18 haptic transducers and lets people feel the audio they choose.

But the underlying question is closely related to the one that has driven me from the beginning: can physically felt sound influence the way the body responds to an experience?

This study suggests that question is worth continuing to explore.

What should researchers test next?

The clearest next step would be to compare vibration plus audio with audio alone, vibration alone and a sham condition. That would help isolate which part of the experience is responsible for each change.

I would also like to see studies with larger groups, broader age ranges, different kinds of audio and longer follow-up periods. The 2024 study gives researchers a useful signal. The next studies can tell us how dependable that signal is and what produces it.

What I took away

The most interesting part of this paper was not a dramatic headline. It was the fact that measurable physiology shifted during—and briefly after—an experience built from sound and low-frequency vibration.

We are still learning what that means. But it adds substance to an idea that has stayed with me throughout the development of SoundBlanket: listening does not have to stop at the ears.

SoundBlanket exists because I believe music can be experienced more completely when it is felt as well as heard. This paper gave that idea a new question to follow.

— Lance

Founder, SoundBlanket

Frequently asked questions

Can vibroacoustic stimulation affect vagal tone?

A 2024 study reported lower heart rate and increases in RMSSD and high-frequency HRV during vibroacoustic stimulation. The authors interpreted those changes as increased parasympathetic activity and cardiac vagal tone. More controlled research is needed to determine what produced the effect and how consistently it occurs.

Is vibroacoustic stimulation the same as vagus nerve stimulation?

No. Clinical vagus nerve stimulation directly targets the nerve, often electrically. Vibroacoustic stimulation uses audible sound and low-frequency physical vibration. The 2024 study measured signals associated with vagal activity; it did not directly stimulate the vagus nerve.

Was SoundBlanket used in the study?

No. The researchers used a wooden platform with three transducers and a controlled nature soundscape. SoundBlanket uses 18 haptic transducers and user-selected audio.

What is heart rate variability?

Heart rate variability, or HRV, is the variation in time between heartbeats. Researchers use several HRV measures, including RMSSD and high-frequency HRV, to study autonomic and parasympathetic activity.

Source

Fooks, Charlotte, and Oliver Niebuhr. “Vibroacoustic Stimulation Can Affect Cardiac Vagal Tone.” Sensors, 2024.

Full study: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/18/5924

PubMed record: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39338668/