Binaural Beats: an auditory phenomenon

So this isn't necessarily music depending on your definition but binaural beats are incredibly interesting and worth learning about. Today I wrote a speech for my public speaking class on the phenomenon. Here it is:

Millions of people drink energy drinks everyday to wake themselves and get more energy, could you imagine that you could have a similar effect by just listen to a sound? Have you ever envisioned yourself listening to a sound to calm you down and put you to sleep? What about a sound that could reduce depression or alleviate pain? Well, binaural beats are sounds that can do all of that and more. This is a phenomenon that is just as important to understand as it is interesting. Binaural beats might just be the next big thing of the future. After researching, studying and even listening to binaural beats, I have prepared myself to fill you in on exactly what they are. After reading this, you will know the psychological phenomenon, history, and usage of binaural beats.

First, binaural beats are an amazing phenomenon that is fascinating to discover. To begin, you must understand the concept of brainwaves. The brain operates at certain frequencies for different purposes. According to Gabe Turow of Stanford University, brainwaves fall into 5 ranges that are commonly studied: gamma, beta, alpha, theta and delta. Each of these wave patterns correlates with various conscience phenomena from being in deep dreamless sleep to an alert state where your brain is functioning the sharpest. Now, binaural beats are the difference in two frequencies. If two sounds are played at different frequencies, a beat is produced. A combination of a tone of 100hz in one ear and a 108hz tone in the other ear results in a binaural beat of 8hz. The phenomena we see with the brain is the entrainment that occurs when pure tones are heard in each ear. An 8hz binaural beat corresponds to a theta wave. By listening to this binaural beat for an extended period of time your brain waves will synchronize to the tone and in this case you will become relaxed, calm and it might just put you to sleep. If you instead listened to a binaural beat of 40hz or greater you would experience higher mental activity and increased cognition. The most important part about listening to a binaural beat is hearing them in stereo headphones with a different tone in each ear.

Second, this all this might sound like crazy new age technology but it was actually discovered in 1839 by a German scientist named Heinrich Wilhelm Dove. Web-US.com says that the human ability to hear binaural beats is the result of evolutionary adaptation. The phenomenon wasn’t researched any more until in 1973 when another scientist by the name of Dr. Gerald Oster published “Auditory Beats on the Brain”. Most of the research I have done originated in Oster’s work from 1973. Today many other uses are being experimented with and that brings me to my last topic.

Third, now that you know what binaural beats are maybe you're interested in seeing their effect on you. Well, there are many different producers of binaural beats for various uses. By using specific frequencies, binaural beats can stimulate certain glands to produce hormones. In the study; “Binaural beat technology in humans: a pilot study to assess psychologic and physiologic effects” by scientists Wahbeh, Calabrese, and Zwickey, dopamine was modulated with binaural beats. Other uses include reducing learning time and sleep needs. Children can learn faster because theta waves are stronger in their brains. By inducing a theta wave, you can enhance your learning ability and also lower sleep needs. “Alpha biofeedback therapy in alcoholics: an 18-month follow-up” is a study by scientists Watson, Herder, and Passini that showed that alpha-theta brainwave training can help in the treatment of addictions. Binaural beats can even be used to attempt out of body experiences, astral projection, telepathy and psychokenesis.

Binaural beats are an amazing phenomenon and everything from what they are, their history and finally their uses is a remarkable and interesting thing. If you are at all interested in binaural beats I encourage you to look it up and maybe try it out.

One interesting provider of binaural beats is i-doser. They make beats that attempt to mimic the effects of drugs. I have had some success with a few of the beats they make. It's definitely worth checking out.