What are Binaural Beats?
In the previous post, I talked about brain waves and their effect on the body. Now I’ll briefly outline how to manipulate your brain waves using binaural beats, a technique discovered by physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in 1839 which involves playing two slightly different frequencies separately in each ear (with headphones), causing the brain to synthesise an imaginary frequency. This frequency is the binaural beat and is the difference between the two frequencies. This promotes the brain to resonate at this frequency and produce brain waves of this frequency.
The Benefits
Benefits of binaural beats include:
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- Improved mood
- Increased relaxation
- Improved sleep
- Increased focus
- Increased creativity and problem-solving
- Assistance with pain management
The Research
The following extract is taken from Healthline.com – Do Binaural Beats Have Health Benefits?
“While most studies on the effects of binaural beats have been small, there are several that provide evidence that this auditory illusion does indeed have health benefits, especially related to anxiety, mood, and performance. One blinded study in 29 people found that listening to binaural beats in the beta range (16 and 24 Hz) was associated with both improved performance on a given task as well as a reduction in negative moods compared to listening to binaural beats in the theta and delta (1.5 and 4 Hz) range or to simple white noise. Another controlled study in roughly 100 people about to undergo surgery also found that binaural beats were able to significantly reduce pre-operative anxiety compared to similar audio without the binaural tones and no audio at all. In the study, anxiety levels were cut in half for people who listened to the binaural beat audio. Another uncontrolled study asked eight adults to listen to a binaural beat CD with delta (1 to 4 Hz) beat frequencies for 60 days straight. The participants filled out surveys before and after the 60-day period that asked questions about their mood and quality of life. The results of the study found that listening to binaural beats for 60 days significantly reduced anxiety and increased the overall quality of life of these participants. Since the study was small, uncontrolled, and relied on patient surveys to collect data, larger studies will be needed to confirm these effects. One larger and more recent randomized and controlled trial looked at the use of binaural beats in 291 patients admitted to the emergency department at a hospital. The researchers observed significant decreases in anxiety levels in patients exposed to audio with embedded binaural beats compared to those who listened to audio without binaural beats or no audio at all (headphones only).”
Seek advice from a practitioner before using binaural beats. It is not recommended to use binaural beats if you are a child, suffer from seizures, are pregnant, operate heavy machinery or have a pacemaker or other heart problems.
Time to Help Yourself… For FREE!
Do binaural beats sound perfect to improve your everyday performance and mental health? The good news is a wide range of binaural beats can be listened to completely free on the Affirmate app, making meditation, relaxation and focus assistance available anywhere on-the-go. Subscribe to keep up to date with new audio releases to get the greatest benefits binaural beats has to offer to help with all aspects of life.
