Jun 11
7
Binaural beats, What are Binaural beats?
Binaural beats are a powerful form of brainwave entrainment.
Binaural beats are basically sounds or tones that have a specific frequency in them. Those frequencies are played in each ear in order to ‘trick’ the brain into a certain frequency and reach a desired effect. Binaural beats are actually a quite simple concept for the effectiveness and power that’s held inside of them.
Binaural beats occurs when a person listens to a sound in one ear and a similar but slightly different sound in the other. The resulting dissonance produces a sound in the brain that is not really there. The imaginary sounds are called binaural beats. Many people claim that these beats can induce states like relaxation and concentration. Other people believe that these states are the results of the power of suggestion, not a binaural beat.
Binaural beats were first discovered in 1839 by H. Dove, a German experimenter. At that time, binaural beats were considered to be a special case of monaural beats. Binaural beats are not the same as monaural beats. Binaural beats are perceived by presenting two different tones at slightly different pitches (or frequencies) separately into each ear. This effect is produced in the brain, not in the ears as with monaural beats. It is produced by the neural output from the ears and created within the olivary body within the brain, in its attempt to “locate” the direction of the sound based on phase.
Monaural and binaural beats are rarely encountered in nature.
To hear monaural beats, both tones must be of the same amplitude. However binaural beats can be heard when the tones have different amplitudes. They can even be heard if one of the tones is below the hearing threshold. Noise reduces the perceived volume of monaural beats whereas noise actually increases the loudness of binaural beats.
Binaural beats deserve special mention because of the manner in which the desired frequencies are obtained. Brainwave entrainment may be achieved when audio signals are introduced to the brain causing a response directly related to the frequency of the signal introduced, called binaural beats. Two tones close in frequency generate a beat frequency at the difference of the frequencies, which is generally subsonic. For example, a 495 Hz tone and 505 Hz tone will produce a subsonic 10 Hz tone, roughly in the middle of the alpha range. The resulting subsonic tone may affect the state of mind of the subject.
The “carrier frequency” (e.g., the 500 Hz in the example above), is also said by some to affect the quality of the transformative experience. Note that this effect is achieved without either ear hearing the pulse when headphones are used. Instead, the brain produces the pulse by combining the two tones. Each ear hears only a steady tone. Although some have claimed that these frequencies do provide help in treating certain medical conditions, there is not a wide acceptance by the medical community to adopt the practice of brainwave entrainment for emotional/mental disorders. A fixed, constant frequency of synchronization is less helpful than techniques such as classical neurofeedback or learning meditation, which naturally generate brain wave frequencies that differ from person to person and may vary from minute to minute.
