Music can soothe the body and mind by slowing down one’s heart rate, encouraging deeper and more relaxed breathing, and even inspiring happy thoughts. Do you suppose then that ringtones could do the same thing?

Matsumi Suzuki sure thinks so!

Mr. Suzuki is the head of the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory, an organization responsible for producing 27 therapeutic ringtones that they claim can help ease the stress of a bad day, reduce the uncomfortable effects of a hangover, cure insomnia, keep one awake, and even frighten away a threatening crow.

The ringtones have been a complete success since their release by Japanese mobile content provider Index.

A spokesperson for Index told TimesOnline (UK), “The number of downloads suggests the ringtones must be working to a certain extent.” He did, however, also admit that the actual scientific data, which he dubbed ‘actual experimentation,’ is rather limited.

This, by the way, is the same company that offers an iPhone app (Bowlingual) for translating a dog’s bark.

The concept of a therapeutic ringtone dates back to Dr. Hideto Tomabechi, who, in 2004, developed a ringtone that could supposedly make a woman’s breasts grow. Mr. Suziki from the Ringing Tone Laboratory built on Tomabechi’s idea by creating a synthetic mosquito ‘noise’ that could purportedly discourage teenagers from “congregating in parks at midnight.”

Years later and now we have therapeutic ringtones that can help one quite smoking, increase one’s attraction to the opposite sex, and even improve memory.

Regardless of credibility, the ringtones have found an audience among Japanese’s youth. The question remains though: But does it really work? Or are kids merely purchasing it for a cheap laugh? That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the question!

Links (1 2 3 4)

V Saxena

V Saxena

I hail from Raleigh, North Carolina. I was raised in America and intend to bring up my children as proud Americans because I am defined by neither my past nor the color of my skin, but rather by the path I choose to take in life. It is this option to be who and what I want that has me so enamored with my Mother country: the United States of America. For more information, please visit http://conservativenewsfeed.com.