How Stillee works
Sound Bath: how it works and why we made it
Sound Bath is a shelf of recorded pieces in Stillee: bowls, bells, long tones and the sound of rooms, with no spoken words except in one guided piece. You pick by what you are doing: sitting up, lying down, or awake in the night. Some pieces end softly. Some never end. To hear what is on the shelf, see Sound Bath.
Where the sounds come from
Every sound on the shelf is a recording, and none is generated. Singing bowls, bells, a gong, a circle of humming voices, the air of real rooms. We tuned and wove them so the pieces breathe together instead of clashing, and set every piece to the same loudness, so nothing jumps at you in the dark.
We approved the pieces by ear. The acceptance test for the loops was a full 130-minute listen, not a measurement. A loop can look fine on a meter and still wear on you by minute ten. Only listening finds that.
The same piece plays the same way every time. We don't shuffle variants. At 3 AM, familiar is the point.
Why there is no voice
A voice gives you something to follow. These pieces are for when you can't.
After the Wave, for the hour after a panic attack, has no voice at all, not even an introduction. The panic flow has already said what it needs to. This is the part where we stop talking. Deep Rest is forty-five minutes of one deep tone and one soft texture, with a single gong swell near the start.
There is one exception. In Toning, you make the sound. A guide shows you once, breathe in, hum the breath out, any note, then leaves you with a low drone to hum with. That guide is a synthetic voice, and we say so. Toning's drone is also there on its own, with no guide at all.
How the shelf is sorted
The app sorts Sound Bath by posture, not mood. You know whether you are sitting up or lying down before you know anything else.
| Shelf | Pieces |
|---|---|
| Sitting up | The Sit (20 or 45 min), The Sit, Gentle (30 min), Toning (10 min guided, or the drone alone) |
| Lying down | Wind-Down (30 or 20 min Late, or Endless), Deep Rest (45 min, or All night), After the Wave (15 min) |
| The night shelf | 3 AM Room and Quiet Field, both Endless |
- The Sit opens with bells, rises in overlapping bowls and settles to a single last ring. It is for sitting up, not for falling asleep.
- Wind-Down is a warm drone with no bells. Its Late version is darker, for past midnight.
- Deep Rest comes in three versions, Still, Open and Deep. You choose once and can change it anytime.
- 3 AM Room is the small, familiar set for the middle of the night. Quiet Field is steady sound in two characters, Water and Nebula.
Each piece says how to listen. The Sit asks for headphones. Toning asks to be played out loud, so you hear your own hum meet the drone. The rest work from a phone on the nightstand.
How a piece ends
A Journey plays once and ends softly. There is no chime and no next track. Wind-Down spends its last six minutes leaving, which is why you can't name the moment it stopped.
An Endless piece has no ending. It is one composed stretch of six to thirteen minutes whose end flows into its own beginning, played whole, not as a short clip on repeat. The player counts up ("No ending. 3:34 so far.") and only you, or a timer, ends it. Sound eases in over three seconds. That fade lives in the player, not the file, so the loop never dips at its join. The engineering of that join is on Sound Bath.
What the research says
In a 2017 study of 62 adults, people reported less tension, anger, fatigue and depressed mood after a Tibetan singing bowl meditation.
What it won't do
- It isn't a treatment for sleep problems, anxiety or anything else, and it won't get you to sleep in a set time.
- If sound itself tends to keep you alert, this shelf may not be for you.
- If you are in a panic, the panic flow is free and one tap away.
What's free
Three pieces are free: After the Wave (15 minutes), 3 AM Room, and Quiet Field in both its characters. Every other piece is part of Premium. You can browse the whole shelf for free. Only pressing play on a Premium piece asks for it.
- Free, forever
- The panic flow · The 3 AM mode and the 3 AM tracks · The breathing Shapes · Your journal · After the Wave, from the Sound Bath shelf
- Premium
- $3.33 a month, billed $39.90 a year, or $6.99 month to month. Free trial on the yearly plan in the App Store. Cancel anytime. Adds: Every program, including the full 8-week MBSR course · The sleep library and the Sound Bath shelf · The deeper insights.
- Where it runs
- iPhone today. Android is planned.
FAQ
Is there a voice in Stillee's Sound Bath?
No, except in one piece. The shelf is wordless. The exception is the 10-minute guided Toning, where a synthetic guide shows you how to hum once, then leaves you with a drone. The drone also plays alone. After the Wave has no voice at all.
Which Sound Bath pieces are free?
After the Wave, 3 AM Room and Quiet Field. After the Wave is fifteen minutes for the hour after a panic attack, and it stays free. The rest of the shelf is part of Premium, and you can browse all of it without paying.
Does an Endless piece ever stop?
Not by itself. An Endless piece plays one composed stretch of six to thirteen minutes again and again, and the player counts up how long it has been going. You stop it, or set a timer. A Journey plays once and ends softly.
Which piece should I start with?
Sitting up: The Sit, which is for listening, not for falling asleep. Lying down: Wind-Down or Deep Rest. The hour after a panic attack: After the Wave, which is free. Awake in the night: 3 AM Room, also free.
Is Sound Bath a treatment for sleep or anxiety?
No. Stillee is not therapy or a medical device. Sound Bath is for settling, sitting with sound, or lying down to rest. For a panic attack, use the panic flow.
References
- [1] Goldsby TL, Goldsby ME, McWalters M, Mills PJ. Effects of singing bowl sound meditation on mood, tension, and well-being: an observational study. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med 2017;22(3):401-406. Link