174 Hz frequency
174 Hz is the lowest note of the extended solfeggio set, a deep hum a little below the F that sits under middle C. Practitioners use it as a floor tone at the start of a session.
- Nearest noteF3 −6¢
- Period5.75 ms
- Wavelength in air1.97 m
Keep the volume low (a low drone feels louder than it measures) and play it on headphones or a speaker with real bass; phone speakers roll off below about 300 Hz, so you may hear mostly its overtones.
What 174 Hz is claimed to do
- Promoted as a “natural anaesthetic” for easing tension and pain
- Used as a grounding drone before breathwork or body-scan meditation
- Often paired with 285 Hz in sleep playlists
What the evidence says
No controlled study has tested 174 Hz specifically. What it can reliably do is what any steady low drone does: mask small noises and give the attention something slow and predictable to rest on. Treat pain claims as marketing; if pain is the problem, see a clinician.
Where the number comes from
The modern solfeggio list traces to Joseph Puleo and Leonard Horowitz in the 1990s, who derived the numbers by digit-reduction of verse numbers in the Book of Numbers. It is not the medieval scale Guido d’Arezzo taught with the hymn “Ut queant laxis”, which named pitches, not fixed frequencies.
174 Hz: common questions
What is 174 Hz good for?
It is marketed for grounding and pain relief. There is no clinical evidence for pain relief; people mostly use it as a calm, low drone for meditation and falling asleep.
Why can’t I hear 174 Hz on my phone?
Small phone speakers barely reproduce frequencies below roughly 300 Hz. Use headphones to hear the fundamental rather than only its faint overtones.
Is 174 Hz part of the original solfeggio scale?
No. 174, 285 and 963 Hz were added to the six-tone modern list later; none of them come from medieval music.