5 Sound-Based Resolutions To Transform Your Health In 2025

If you ask someone what their New Year's resolution is and they respond “ear health,” you might be confused—and even wonder if it’s time to get your hearing checked. But, given how essential ears are to overall well-being, we’d argue that this resolution deserves to be just as normalized as “eat healthier” or “exercise more.” 

Hear us out: If our ears aren’t functioning properly, we miss out on conversations with friends, goosebumps at concerts, and potentially life-changing announcements. Our ears connect us to the world. They are gateways to mindfulness and ecstasy, joy and awe—and it’s time to treat them as such.

Here are five sound-based resolutions to make for 2025:

1. I will protect my ears like I protect my eyes.

Your ears translate sound waves into electrical impulses to be interpreted by the brain with the help of thousands of tiny hair cells in the cochlea (inner ear). Exposure to loud noises can damage these sensitive cells. If exposure persists, some cells could die, resulting in hearing loss. 

Even short-term exposure to loud noise can increase stress, disrupt our ability to learn, and make us more vulnerable to mental health issues and certain cognitive diseases—even more reasons to keep the volume down.

If you’ve ever been woken up by honking cars or interrupted by construction, you know how maddening noise pollution can be. Carrying around a pair of earplugs is an easy way to protect yourself in the case of any unexpected loud noises. 

Just like you instinctively reach for sunglasses when it’s sunny, try to be more consistent with earplugs in the new year for the sake of your mental health and hearing. 

2. I will commit to periods of silence.

Similar to how your body requires sleep after a long day, your ears need time to recover following loud noise exposure. 

Committing to at least a few minutes of “quiet time” every day can be mentally and physically restorative. Of course, in an age when silence has become a “luxury product,” this is easier said than done. 

Consider setting a recurring calendar invite for quiet time or dedicating a peaceful area of your home to silent reflection to help this habit stick in the new year. 

3. I will use sound more strategically with the help of Spiritune.

Of course, not all sounds damage health—and some are extremely beneficial. Listening to certain types of music, for example, can effectively relieve stress or increase focus, depending on the tune.

Once you learn how to use sound to your advantage, you unlock a new (and side-effect-free) therapeutic tool. This requires more than just turning on your Spotify Wrapped, though. To help you transition from one state to the next, music should first match your current emotional state and then gradually shift to align with how you want to feel. (Listening to sad music won’t do much to make you feel any less sad!)

At Spiritune, composing strategic and science-backed musical journeys is our specialty. Our personalizable tracks use the foundations of neuroscience and music therapy to guide listeners away from feelings like “anxious,” “tense,” or “worried” and towards ones like “peaceful” and “relaxed.” 

Download the app on App Store or Google Play today so you can use it whenever you’re craving a quick mindset shift in the new year.

4. I will pay more attention to natural soundscapes.

The sounds of the great outdoors can also be uniquely poised to relieve stress. Natural soundscapes replete with birdsongs, running water, and rustling leaves send a subconscious signal that we are in a safe environment where resources are abundant. They also tend to be rich in low-frequency sounds, which we naturally find more restorative than the higher-frequency ones that tend to dominate the built environment. 

Bonus: Tuning into natural soundscapes can help you deepen your sense of place and get to know your neighborhood on a new level. As acoustic ecologist Bernie Krause says, “A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but a soundscape is worth 1,000 pictures.” 

When negative and stressful thoughts creep up in the new year, try listening to the sounds of the non-human world instead. Get in the habit of heading outside to see if you can ID the anthropophony (human noises), geophany (Earth noises, like wind or rain), and biophony (animal noises) around you. 

5. I will listen out for the latest developments in sound research.

The world of sound therapy and auditory health is constantly evolving, and there’s always more to learn. If you’re looking for books to kick off 2025, we’d recommend adding I Heard There Was a Secret Chord, Music and Mind and Your Brain on Art: How The Arts Transforms Us to your reading list. They all present new research on music medicine and share expert perspectives about where it could be heading next. 

Our team at Spiritune is constantly monitoring the latest science of sound—and sharing the most relevant takeaways on our blog and newsletter. Be sure to sign up to get actionable tips for using sound to live a healthier life straight to your inbox in the new year. And stay tuned for some exciting research of our own (spoiler alert)!

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