BINAURAL FREQUENCIES SERIES

Next, the same volunteers listened to frequencies mixed on a computer to create a third beat before the sound reached the ears.

BINAURAL FREQUENCIES SERIES

In the study, published this week in eNeuro, healthy adults wore head caps with electrodes for monitoring brainwaves using electroencephalography (EEG).įirst, they listened to a series of binaural beat frequencies. The latest study to poke holes in the hype comes from an international team led by scientists at the Montreal-based Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research. So far, however, the evidence of any health benefits is thin. But that hasn’t stopped an overkill of apps from marketing them as “digital drugs” with the power to relieve migraines, sharpen mental focus and blast away stress.Įven Bayer, maker of Aspirin, promotes binaural beats as “good vibes” for relaxation on its Austrian website. Researchers haven’t fully studied binaural beats, let alone the possible health effects. If one ear picks up a tone at 550 Hertz, while the other hears 558 Hertz, the brain will perceive a third frequency-binaural beats-at the points where the sine waves bump together. In theory, slightly mismatched tones may confuse the brain. What’s up with that? Scientists have known for decades that our brainwaves tend to synchronize, or “entrain,” with the rhythms we hear. But this third sound is just a figment of your brain’s auditory system. You start to hear a low beat that sounds like it’s coming from inside your head. An odd thing happens when you listen through headphones to two steady tones at slightly different frequencies, one in each ear.

Binaural frequencies