Binaural Beats: Digital Drugs
The science behind binaural beats: What they are, what they are claimed to do, and what they can actually do.
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Consumer Ripoffs
| Skeptoid #147 March 31, 2009 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe |
|
By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast
Episode 147, March 31, 2009
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4147
Today we're going to put on our headphones, kick back in the beanbag, and get mellow to the soothing sounds of the latest digital drug: binaural beats. These computer generated sound files are said to massage your brain and produce all sorts of effects, everything from psychedelic experiences to behavior modification. Let's point our skeptical eye at the science of binaural beats, and especially at some of the claims made for them.
First of all, I'm sure you're curious right off the bat to hear what binaural beats sound like, so let's take a listen:
A binaureal beat is created by playing a different tone in each ear, and the interference pattern between the slightly differing frequencies creates the illusion of a beat. It's intended to be heard through headphones, so there's no cross-channel bleed across both ears. Listen to this, I'll play a simple binaural beat, and I'll slide the pan control back and forth from one ear to the other. You can see that there isn't actually any beat, it's just an acoustic illusion:
If you search the Internet for "binaural beats" you'll quickly find there's a whole industry built on the idea that listening to binaural beats can produce all kinds of desired effects in your brain. It can alter your mood, help you follow a diet or stop smoking, get you pumped up for a competition, calm you down, put you to sleep, enhance your memory, act as an aphrodisiac, cure headaches, and even balance your chakra. Binaural-Beats.com offers a $30 CD that they call the world's first "digital drug". They claim it can get you drunk without the side effects. I-Doser.com offers a range of music tracks that they say simulates a variety of actual pharmaceuticals, such as Demerol, Oxycontin, and Vicodin. Suffice it to say that no matter what superpower you're looking for, someone on the Internet sells a binaural beat audio file claimed to provide it.
You don't have to buy one, though. It's not too hard to make your own binaural beat, and free software is widely available to do just that. The one that I used to make that little sample is an open-source program called Gnaural, available on the Sourceforge web site. It's pretty easy to use, though it takes some practice before you can generate some of the really cool, more professional sounding beats. A binaural beat consists of two simple tones, and most people add that background pink noise. Nothing special.
But the question is: Does it have a special effect on the brain? A lot of people think so. The basic claim being made for binaural beats is "resonant entrainment". Entrainment, in physics, is when two systems which oscillate at different frequencies independently are brought together, they synchronize with one another, at whatever the combined system's resonant frequency is. Examples of entrainment occur in animals in nature; for example the chirping of crickets or the croaking of frogs. Synchronization of menstrual cycles in women is another example. Even people coming together and dancing with one another is a type of entrainment. The basic claim for binaural beats is that the perceived low-frequency beat will entrain your brain wave pattern, thus forcing your brain into some desired state.
Most of these web sites give some brief explanation of entrainment. The example you hear most often is that of Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens, who in 1665, hung two pendulum clocks next to each other on a wall. He noticed that the pendulums eventually matched each others' frequency, but always in antiphase, opposite to each other, as if canceling each other out. He'd try disturbing one or setting them in sync, but they'd always return to the same antiphase synchronization. Huygen's experience is widely touted on binaural beat websites as a demonstration of how systems can become spiritually connected through some energy field. However, they misunderstand what happened, and have not read the full story. Huygens also tried taking one clock off the wall, and as soon as they were no longer physically connected to one another via the actual wall, the effect disappeared. It was not the proximity of the clocks to one another that created the entrainment; it was their physical, mechanical connection to one another. As each pendulum swung it imparted an infinitesimal equal and opposite reaction to the wall itself. With two clocks on the wall, the system naturally sought the lowest energy level, according to the laws of thermodynamics; and both pendulums would thus swing exactly counter to each other, minimizing the system's total energy.
So to summarize their claim, they're saying that entrainment means that a binaural beat will cause your brain's electroencephalogram to match the pattern of the phantom beat. Well, if it did, entrainment certainly doesn't apply and would not be part of the equation, so we can scratch that off the list. But it doesn't make the claimed observation wrong. We do know that certain electroencephalogram waveforms are often associated with certain kinds of activity. For example, physical activity or REM sleep often produces an electroencephalogram with a sine wave of between 4 and 8 Hz, which we term a theta pattern. Waking relaxation with eyes closed often produces a pattern from 8 to 12 Hz, which is called an alpha pattern. There are only a few characterized patterns, and pretty general descriptions of what kinds of activities go with them. The claim made by the binaural beat sellers depends on much more granular and specific matches. For example, the claim that a binaural beat with a frequency of X produces the same effect in your brain as Vicodin is wholly implausible. Such claims presume that we know the exact frequency of the electroencephalogram in each of these desired conditions, and the fact is that brain waves don't work that way. It is wholly and absolutely implausible to say that desired brain condition X will occur if we get your EEG to read exactly X Hz.
Not only that, binaural beats presume that brain waves work in the opposite way that they do. Certain brain states produce certain brain waves; brain waves don't produce brain states. You just don't turn a dial to 6.5 Hz and induce instant happiness.
And so, while the claimed science behind binaural beats is unfounded, this doesn't mean that the effect isn't real and simply unexplained. Maybe you can listen to a certain binaural beat and induce a desired state, but for reasons we don't yet understand. So let's take a look at the research, and see if such an effect has actually been observed.
A 2008 study at Hofstra University played two different binaural beats and a control sound (a babbling brook) to patients with high blood pressure. There was no difference between the groups. In one small study from Japan that was published in the Journal of Neurophysiology in 2006, they played various binaural beats to nine subjects, and observed the resulting EEGs. They found great variability in the results. Their conclusion was that listening to binaural beats can produce activity on the human cerebral cortex, however the cause was more likely a conscious auditory reaction and was not correlated to the frequency of the binaural beat. However, a 2005 study published in Clinical Neurophysiology found that they were able to induce a desired frequency in the EEG matching the phantom beat frequency encoded in a binaural beat, however this was with a single subject and was neither blinded nor controlled.
But we don't need any studies to tell us that different people can listen to different kinds of music and be affected. A lot of people who work out have a workout playlist on their iPod that keeps them energized. Some people listen to certain music to help them fall asleep. The Muzak company has built an industry on relaxing music that will keep people in the mood to shop. Music does affect our mood, and so we already have every reason to expect binaural beat recordings to produce the same effect. Different people may find certain binaural beats to be relaxing or energizing. But, we've never found any reliable indication that a binaural beat's connection to our brain is any deeper or more meaningful than any other music track. We do know for a reasonable certainty that specific claims made by most sellers of binaural beats are not credible, and that there is no reason to think that the effect they're claimed to produce will work for you.
Well, except for one reason: The power of suggestion. If I give you a music track and tell you that it will cure your headache, you're more likely to report that it cured your headache than you are to say "Well it didn't effect my headache, but it made my short-term memory better." An interesting experiment would be to buy a binaural track claimed to induce drunkenness, for example; play it for five friends without telling them the claim, and then ask how it made each of them feel. Give them multiple choices to select from. Chances are they're going to respond all over the map. If you have a friend who is a believer in binaural beats, I suggest going ahead and setting up this little test.
So, in summary, binaural beats certainly do not work the way the sellers claim, but there's no reason to think they're any less effective than any other music track you might listen to that effects you in a way you like. If they make you sleepy (like they all do for me), use them to go to sleep. If they relax you or get you amped, use them for that. But don't expect them to be any more effective than regular music. If someone you know claims that they are, put them to the test, and bust the myth.
© 2009 Skeptoid Media, Inc.
References & Further Reading
Adams, C. "Can Binaural Beats Improve Your Mood?" The Straight Dope. Creative Loafing Media, Inc., 30 Jul. 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2949/can-binaural-beats-improve-your-mood>
Carter, C. "Healthcare performance and the effects of the binaural beats on human blood pressure and heart rate." Journal of Hospital Marketing and Public Relations. 1 Aug. 2008, Volume 18, Number 2: 213-219.
Karino, S., Yumoto, M., Itoh, K., Uno, A., Yamakawa, K., Sekimoto, S., Kaga, K. "Neuromagnetic responses to binaural beat in human cerebral cortex." Journal of Neurophysiology. 21 Jun. 2006, Volume 96, Number 4: 1927-38.
Padmanabhan, R., Hildreth, A.J., Laws, D. "A prospective, randomised, controlled study examining binaural beat audio and pre-operative anxiety in patients undergoing general anaesthesia for day case surgery." Anaesthesia. 7 Jul. 2005, Volume 60, Number 9: 874-877.
Pratt H., Starr A., Michalewski H.J., Dimitrijevic A., Bleich N., Mittelman N. "Cortical evoked potentials to an auditory illusion: Binaural beats." Clinical Neurophysiology. 1 Aug. 2009, 120, 8: 1514-1524.
Schwarz, D.W., Taylor, P. "Human auditory steady state responses to binaural and monaural beats." Clinical Neurophysiology. 1 Mar. 2005, Volume 113, Number 3: 658-668.
Reference this article:
Dunning, B.
"Binaural Beats: Digital Drugs." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
31 Mar 2009. Web.
18 May 2013. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4147>
Discuss!
10 most recent comments | Show all 139 comments
It is a typical skeptic argument that because some (or many) people misuse a technique to get money from gullible individuals that technique is dismissible and/or invalid as a general rule... quite a logical loophole and quite an inaccurate, unjustified assumption.
I'm with you Shulamit51.
from the wikipedia article on binaural beats:
The effects of binaural beats on consciousness were first examined by physicist Thomas Warren Campbell and electrical engineer Dennis Mennerich, who under the direction of Robert Monroe sought to reproduce a subjective impression of 4 Hz oscillation that they associated with out-of-body experience.[14] On the strength of their findings, Monroe created the binaural-beat technology self-development industry by forming The Monroe Institute, now a charitable binaural research and education organization."
Thomas Campbell a physicist who works for NASA) in his "My Big Toe" trilogy pexplains how while doing that research they identified waves oscillating at 4hz at the beginning and end of the out of body experiences and how when they started to use binaural beats to entrain the brain their results began to be successful. In his words: "THE EFFECT WAS POWERFULL, USING THE BINAURAL BEAT TO ENTRAIN BRAINWAVES AS MEASSURED BY THE EEG WAS A FACT. THE EFFECT ON ONE'S CONSCIOUSNESS WAS DRAMATIC... THE BETTER NEWS WAS IT SEEMD TO WORK AS WELL ON EVERYBODY AS IT DID ON US..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN7FQ0rA8lE
check after 4:00
Rafael, London
March 17, 2013 2:07am
I was first exposed to the issue through Centerpointe Research down in OR. My therapist's crew had just suggested I meditate more. That was ten years ago, and I have been using those products ever since. I've never had an EEG so I've no idea if I'm meditating like a Zen monk the way the founder claim. During that time I was rated by the VA as 100% disabled by my visits to Viet Nam a few decades ago. Therapy, medication and meditation, including TM, Centerpointe & Mindfulness, have made me more resilient when I've encountered "stimulating" events. I'm still married, and haven't shot anybody, yet. Which was the most effective? With such a well-opened mind, that is difficult to say. I don't get into heated political or religious kerfuffles nearly as often as I once did. Entrainment, experience, wisdom or a GAF attitude? IyamwhatIyam.
Gordon Graham, Mukilteo, WA
March 19, 2013 4:35pm
I have actual studied skeptics, and cannot find a more useless group of people. I am an electrical engineer, became really sick, depressed, on the verge of taking the final exit. I refused to even speak to a doctor. Their poison at best suppresses symptoms, and creates ten new ones. In my desperation I started to pray, right way just felt some relief from the spiral of negative thinking. I am just telling you what happen, I ventured into into internet, came across a series of self help methods, including research. I started to experiment, incl. Binaural Beats. I took from everyone, put together a method, which I gradually modified and perfected. The amazing thing was how fast I recovered, and I did not move from my chair. In essence I just change mental and emotional habits. The binaural beats seemed to bring me to a more peaceful level fast, where my program seems to be even more effective. I do not ask skeptics to believe a word, I write, I could not care less. My only point is this: Skeptics are like the patent clerk 100 years ago who said; that they could close shop, for everything was invented. Skeptics pretend to defend science. It needs no defense, and truly scientific minds have no skepticism, until they examine their own evidence. The word is really honesty, that you do lie to yourself, and then repeat the experiment. Is my current health and joy all imagination? So what, I am elated. Even the researchers I followed, skeptics ridiculed. Again who cares.
Jan Johansen, Oslo
March 24, 2013 4:23am
I know I was checking some beats out today and I started talking to my dog when he can by and with the headphones on and the beat still beating away I spoke and my voice sounded like a super crazy awesome robot voice. It was so cool I was like what the hell was that? I am pretty sure it only sounded like that to me under the vibrational tone in my headphone but it shocked me. I was freaked out but it was awesome! I started to hum along and the weirdest thing is my robot humming was completely in tune and it actually did take my mind space trucking. If anyone else was in the room I am sure I would have sounded like a kook but it sounded cool to me and definitely opened my mind up to checking out more even if it didn't really open up my third eye...or did it? I can't imagine that a good beat does nothing. I mean didn't Nikola Tesla say "if you want to know the secrets of the universe think energy, frequency and vibration" Well that's how I am approaching it from now on going to go get me some secrets to the universe through some binaural beats ones that vibrate fast make my voice all cool and sci-fi. I find other ones have helped me at practicing meditation I can sit and focus on whatever I am trying to achieve while listening to a certain beat. But after today it's all about the freaky voice I heard while listening to a beat today. Maybe it's like how Haarp works but on a much smaller level. I don't know I am no scientist and I might be way off base but sounds good to me.
JJ, Philly
April 06, 2013 12:37am
Can binaural beats harm your neuro system or affect your brain cells; or is it ok to use it; how often then;
Antreas, Nicosia
April 10, 2013 9:27am
Actually, you are wrong on one point.
You say:
"Certain brain states produce certain brain waves; brain waves don't produce brain states."
But this is a boldly false assertion.
In fact, the mutual influence and looped effect between states and frequencies are immensely complicated, little understood, but certainly do not only work in one direction only. In other words, brainwaves effect states as much as states effect brainwaves, and - though I hate a cliche - chicken and egg is where we are stuck currently.
See: Rhythms of the Brain by Gyorgy Buzsaki (Oxford University Press).
Of course this niether challenges you nor supports your position in relation to commercially produced acoustic sounds packaged with promises. But it is a shame your valid points are weakened by faulty claims to science, when that is part of what you are criticizing.
Respectfully.
Peter Fish, London
April 14, 2013 12:39pm
I came across BB when I was doing research on alcoholism. I was a thirty year drinker, and often binged or abused booze, and wanted to quit. I found a study where a focus group did entrainment for 3 months, and another other did AA. 80% of the entrainment group had abstained after one year, while only 20% of the AA group did. I did BB for 3 months before I read the article, just to focus on writing and research, and have not had an alcoholic craving since. That has been two years. I found when I listen to 7 or 40 hz, after I stop, it sounds like a computer room in my ears. Something sure happened! Oh, and I sleep like a baby, something I could not do for decades.
Lars, LA
April 19, 2013 11:39am
I recently listened to a "Skeptic's Guide to the Universe" episode wherein they discussed the synchronization of menstrual cycles among women. According to those guys, this is a common misconception. Just throwing that out there. Anyway, great podcast! Keep up the awesome work!!
Your skeptical buddy,
Chris
Chris Licht, North palm beach, FL
April 23, 2013 1:00pm
I am under the impression that AA has the same rate as going cold turkey.
Thats about 4-6% across studies nowhere near 20%. In fact, if 20% was the success rate, it would be worth committing someone to god bothering woo to give up the amber of the gods.
Strange that...
Mud, Sin City
April 30, 2013 4:23am
Make a comment about this episode of Skeptoid (please try to keep it brief & to the point). Anyone can post:
You can also discuss this episode in the Skeptoid Forum, hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation, or join the Skeptalk email discussion list.
What's the most important thing about Skeptoid?
![[Valid RSS]](/images/valid-rss-rogers.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
For someone that has a neurological disorder and has to experience all the weird things that go along with it, I know first hand how strange our brain and nervous system can be. Even the western doctors that treat neuro conditions recommend meditation to calm the nervous system. Virginia Tech is also doing brain surgery with radio frequencies. They pinpoint where the issue is within the brain with a laser and direct the waves specifically at the pinpointed spot to stop tremors and head shakes in people with disorders such as Parkinson's. This is all done without opening up the brain as with traditional surgery. Therefore no chance of infection.
Weirdly enough many people with Parkinson's can't even detect the "beat" that's produced. Not saying anything either way, but what does it hurt to keep an open mind? The author, himself, even admits that it puts him to sleep . . .What I feel has occurred is that there are always those out there willing to Capitalize and jump on anything they think will earn them buckets of money. And a few have found this. There are a lot of products out there that promise the moon and don't deliver. I don't believe that there was enough scientific data included in this article to be definitive in either direction. Quite frankly I don't care if it works on a placebo effect basis. I only care if I get sleep and relief from pain and relaxation, with the added benefit that it's not a drug with other side effects I must combat on top of the original issue
VickiD, California
March 15, 2013 12:34pm