![]() However, they misunderstand what happened, and have not read the full story. Huygen's experience is widely touted on binaural beat websites as a demonstration of how systems can become spiritually connected through some energy field. He'd try disturbing one or setting them in sync, but they'd always return to the same antiphase synchronization. ![]() He noticed that the pendulums eventually matched each others' frequency, but always in antiphase, opposite to each other, as if canceling each other out. 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. Most of these websites give some brief explanation 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. Even people coming together and dancing with one another is a type of entrainment. Synchronization of menstrual cycles in women is another example. Examples of entrainment occur in animals in nature for example the chirping of crickets or the croaking of frogs. 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. The basic claim being made for binaural beats is "resonant entrainment". Nothing special.īut the question is: Does it have a special effect on the brain? A lot of people think so. A binaural beat consists of two simple tones, and most people add that background pink noise. It's pretty easy to use, though it takes some practice before you can generate some of the really cool, more professional sounding beats. The one that I used to make that little sample is an open-source program called Gnaural, available on the Sourceforge website. It's not too hard to make your own binaural beat, and free software is widely available to do just that. 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. offers a range of music tracks that they say simulates a variety of actual pharmaceuticals, such as Demerol, Oxycontin, and Vicodin. They claim it can get you drunk without the side effects. offers a $30 CD that they call the world's first "digital drug". 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. 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. You can see that there isn't actually any beat, it's just an acoustic illusion: 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. It's intended to be heard through headphones, so there's no cross-channel bleed across both ears. Your browser does not support the audio tag.Ī 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. Let's point our skeptical eye at the science of binaural beats, and especially at some of the claims made for them.įirst 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: These computer generated sound files are said to massage your brain and produce all sorts of effects, everything from psychedelic experiences to behavior modification. 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.
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