The Binaural Beats Project

Binaural beats are a curious phenomenon. If you listen to two tones through earphones, one to each ear, you can create a detectable pulsing sound. The pulse, or beat, is at the same frequency as the difference between the two tones. So for example a 400 hertz tone to the left ear combined with a 410 hertz tone to the right ear, produces a psychological beat sound at 10 hertz (i.e. pulsing 10 times each second). Therefore this beat doesn’t exist in either tone, and it’s not being heard by either ear. In fact it doesn’t exist in the real world, just in your perception. Furthermore, these beats can be detected in brain signals, they have been recorded in the cat inferior colliculus, amongst other brain areas, by single cell recordings, and in the human brain by electroecephalography (EEG). In fact, binaural beats have the potential to entrain brain waves, artificially altering the frequency of electrical brain activity.

These binaural beats have been known about for many years, however, recently the internet has made the audio tracks easily available. With a computer and earphones, anybody can listen to them via YouTube. And lots of people are, under the belief that you can improve concentration, learning, relaxation etc. The tabloid media have taken the opportunity to make a moral panic out of it, renaming it ‘i-dosing’, complete with horror stories of people over-i-dosing. In fact there is little evidence for the induction of psychological states with binaural beats, and the greatest danger may simply be of hearing damage if they are listened too at high volume.

The media´s typical ridiculous response to binaural beats

Nevertheless, in theory, if brain waves can be entrained, this would be a very useful tool in psychology and neuroscience. So research on this topic is needed. Together with a biophysics student from Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo in Riobamba, we have been testing out the potential of theta frequency binaural beats on cognitive function and emotional state. The experiment involves participants listening to electronic music for 15 minutes, and then performing a range of cognitive tasks designed to measure creativity and initiation. In addition their emotional states are recorded. In one condition there is a theta frequency binaural beat embedded in the music, in the other condition a very similar pair of sinusoidal waves that do not produce a binaural beat.

Data collection at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Marco Lopez performs cognitive tests while the participant listens to the binaural beats. 

This research is ongoing. We’ll report what we find in a future blog post.