What are Binaural Beats?

You can create binaural beats by introducing two tones of different frequency into each ear. By playing one tone of 100Hz in one ear and playing another tone of 114Hz in the other ear, your brain will perceive a third tone or beat which is the phase difference between the two wavelengths of the original tones. This is how we naturally detect directional information using our ears.

The signals integrate and become a third frequency or what we call a ?binaural beat?. The resultant beat of 14Hz is produced within your brain. The tone will sound like a wave or beat depending on the frequency. If the generated beat is 4Hz, then it will sound more like a wave, however if the beat is at 20Hz, it will sound more like a beat.

Stereo headphones must be used in order to make use of this technology. If you were to use speakers, the tones would mix in the air and not give you the desired effect. It can produce a monoraul beat, which can be used for brain wave entrainment (bwe). However, if the track was created for binaural beats, it should be used as such.

When first listening to binaural beats, your brain will need to adjust and you may hear a warbling like sound. If the tones are too loud it can easily cause headaches. In fact, you can set the tone so low, that you cannot knowingly hear them, however, the brain does have the ability to perceive infrasonic sounds.

There is a lot of controversy over whether or not binaural beats can be used for brain-wave entrainment. According to Dr. Gerald Oster binaural beats can be used to produce beats from as little as 0.235Hz to as high as 26.25Hz. Oster also concluded that binaural beats would be insufficient for brainwave entrainment because the depth of the beat is only around 3 decibels or 1/10 the volume of a whisper.

Many companies use binaural beats as the basis for their products such as The Monroe Institute (Hemi-Sync), I-Doser, and Centerpointe (Holosync). The beats are usually mixed with noise, music, ambiance, or guided instructions.

There are other methods which are more efficient like isochronic tones, monoraul beats, low-pass filter modulation, cross-feed modulation, pitch modulation and auto pan modulation. Each type of technology has its own limitations and methods. We use a combination of these methods to produce the best results.