Binaural Beats, What are They?
If you were to introduce two tones of different frequency into each ear, you could create binaural beats. For example, playing a tone with a frequency of 100Hz in one ear and playing a tone with a frequency of 114Hz in the other ear, will force the brain to determine the phase difference between the two wavelengths of each tone. We naturally do this to determine directional information.
As these two tones integrate in our brains, we call it a binaural beat. The resultant beat that we perceive would be 14Hz using this example. If the beat were lower, like say 4Hz, it would sound more like a wave. If the beat were higher like 20Hz, it would sound like a beat.
In order to make use of binaural beats, you must use stereo headphones. If speakers are used, the tones will mix in the air and produce a monaural beat. Monaural beats do have a place in the brain entrainment (bwe) world; however, if the track is meant for binaural, headphones must be used.
When listening to binaural beats, there may be a warbling sound initially until your brain adjusts. Also, having a hearing loss in one ear will not reduce the effectiveness of binaural beats because they maintain their intensity regardless of amplitude. Alternatively, masking the binaural beats with noise does not decrease their effectiveness, in fact, it has been shown to improve the entrainment process and have a more soothing effect.
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.
There are many companies that use binaural beats as the baseline in their products. These companies range from The Monroe Institute (Hemi-Sync), Centerpointe (Holosync), and I-Doser. They mix their beats with ambiance, music, noise and sometimes 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.
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