Binaural Beats - Brainwave Entrainment using Binaural Phenomena

Binaural beats, Meditation music, Relaxation music, Peace music; what ever you want to call it. This style of music is commonly used as therapeutic treatment to assist with many day-to-day issues that people face in their lives. although the genre is widely known as Binaural Beats, it's more of a production technique rather than a "genre", as there are a multitude of different ways this music style can be made to effect the brain. Binaural phenomena is an increasingly studied method of sound production that's boasted to improve concentration, creativity and (in some cases) even improve the mood of a listener. Studies show that depending on the frequency of the binaural beat itself, certain parts of the brain can be targeted for Brainwave Entrainment (BWE). This method is used to induce the brain into a specific state through the service of pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field (Brainwave Entrainment, UK, 2019). These Frequency Following Responses (FFR) are wired to our brainwaves, and can be accessed when a stimuli is placed in front of us at the presented frequency. For instance, when people who have epilepsy are put in front of a strobe that is flashing at their seizure frequency, their brain will 'entrain' to the flashing light, ultimately resulting in a seizure (Brainwave Entrainment, UK, 2019). The same concept is used in hypnosis, meditation and many other states of mind that emit specific brainwave frequencies.

Heinrich Wilhelm Dove - Physicist, Discovered Binaural Phenomena

The term Binaural (Bi=two and Aural=Audio) derived from the phrase Monaural, meaning a sound that has one output. A monaural beat is when two pure-tone sine waves with slight variation in frequency (less than 40Hz difference between them) are delivered to a listener as a whole product, resulting in a sound wave that has a steady variation of amplitude (pulsing sound) which is at the frequency of the difference between the two tones (Oster, G. 1973). Now, if the same two tones are played to you as they are in the respected stereo output (Left and right) and not processed into a single source of audio (mono), a pulsing beat is still recognised but it is different in character compared to the monaural beat (Oster, G. 1973).

German Physicist, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered in 1839 that the difference between binaural and monaural tones (beats) is that a monaural beat is the product of two pure-tone waves being processed for us to listen to and a binaural beat would be the same two pure-tone waves being presented simultaneously, which in-turn enrols our brain to the task of processing the difference in frequency, generating a third tone that (quite frankly) isn't even there. Dove theorises that this 'beat' that is heard in our brain when listening to binaural audio is actually an illusion. We perceive the difference in frequency between the two sounds because our brains aren't used to hearing tones that are so similar to each other with such intensity (Beats, H. 2013), so we 'fill the gap' between the two.

For example, If I produce one pure-tone sine wave at 440Hz and pan it all the way to the right side of a stereo sound stage (sound only coming out the right speaker) and I produce another tone at 447Hz in the left speaker, our brains will create a third tone that is the frequency difference between the two (Appendix A); the binaural beat would be 7Hz (447Hz - 440Hz = 7Hz). For extra comparison I have included both tones separately and then at the same time (Appendix B). *Binaural beats can only be perceived when listening to the tones simultaneously through stereo headphone and cannot be processed using external speakers*

Appendix A - 7Hz Binaural Beat Careful of Volume Level

Appendix B - Comparison of Individual Tones - 440Hz and 447Hz - Careful of Volume Level

If I render those tones into a single channel and present it as a whole product, the frequency difference would remain the same, but instead of the illusion of binaural phenomena occurring, it would be a physical modulation of amplitude (Appendix C). You can see the distinct difference in the two sound waves (Appendix D and E). *Note that there are 7 consistent points of amplitude reduction occurring over one second in Appendix D; these are how the beats are determined

Appendix C - 7Hz Monaural beat

Appendix D - 1 second 7Hz Monaural beat

Appendix E - 1 second 7Hz Binaural beat

How does this apply to Brainwave Entrainment?

In 2008, holistic brain health practitioner Tina L. Huang, PhD and psychologist Christine Charyton PhD, who specialises in interventions for behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders, collaboratively wrote a review article titled, A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF BRAINWAVE ENTRAINMENT, which was published through ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES, Sep/Oct 2008, VOL. 14, NO. 5, P. 38-49. The duo reference a report published in 2005 titled, Getting started with neurofeedback by Demos, J. N. and in the report, studies had been recorded to figure out what brainwave patterns were present during the current state of an individual. By placing sensors on the scalp of the person(s), Demos was able to determine 5 main frequency ranges: These are (but not limited to) delta frequencies (1-4Hz), which associates with deep sleep; theta frequencies (4-8Hz), which associate with creativity, light sleep and insight; alpha frequencies (8-12Hz), which associate with calm and peaceful yet alert states of mind; beta frequencies (13-21Hz), which associate with a thinking, focused state; and high beta frequencies (20-32Hz), which are associated with intensity or anxiety (Demos, J. N. 2005). Research shows that when we are presented with constant rhythmic stimuli (pulsing light or tone) the brainwaves in our parietal lobe, occipital lobe and/or temporal cortex exhibit a frequency following response (FFR) that resonates with the presented stimulus or will show a frequency harmonic or a sub harmonic of the stimulus (Huang, T., & Charyton, C. P.39). This means that if we are presented with a binaural beat of 2Hz, our brain will generate and manifest the FFR of said frequency (2Hz), which in turn, subconsciously nudges our state of mind into thinking that it is in, or should be in a state of deep sleep.

"The concept behind monaural BWE is the same with that of binaural beats" (Monaural beats, 2011)

This type of music is most commonly involved with meditation workshops and spiritual healing seminars. The specific state of mind that the listener is trying to achieve would determine the frequency range of the binaural beat. Luckily there are a seemingly endless amount of DIY binaural trance meditation compositions on youtube that is immediately accessible to the public to best fit their needs. Meditation music doesn't necessarily require binaural beats to categorise it into the genre, it is used for any and all types of spiritual seminars. But because of the recent surge in interest and research into binaural beats, we may find that in the near future these beats will become a prerequisite for the meditation genre. As well as Binaural Beats, Binaural recording has become a big part of the music therapy and meditation music genre's. Japanese recording engineer Takashi Kokubo took influence from a form of music therapy known as sound bathing. This is when consumers would go to shops that are located in the centre of their industrial cities and be engulfed into a musical space where sounds of the sea, forests, and general nature sounds would be introduced into their heads through stereo headphones and/or a 5.1 surround sound system (Beat techniques, 2018).

Although Binaural beats may have positive effects on our state of mind, if you take them for their face value, they're not always going to be the easiest thing for someone to listen to when they aren't in the best mood. How can we fix this? Well, like isochronic tones; which are regular beats of a single tone that are formed by seperate pulses of sound and silence (Hardt. 2015), a binaural beat only needs to be present within a mix because the minor frequency difference will still be subconsciously processed in our brain and the beat will still be generated. This means that it does not need to be the focal point of a piece of audio to be effective. Great! Now what are some things we can add to best fit the type of brainwave frequency that we're attempting to persuade into action? Let's say that we're aiming for the 7Hz range again (calm and peaceful, yet alert state), soft angelic pads, a slow and melodic harp-like plucks would fit nicely. What about soundscapes? A collective piece of audio that enlists a variety of natural sounding items would fit perfectly on top of the already heavenly production, a forest or a beachfront would fit the brief. But what if we really want to engulf the listener into a completely different environment, is a stereo mix enough? The binaural beat has been established, the nice pads and harp are placed into the mix, now how about binaural recording to put the icing on the cake. In a stereo recording, there is left and right, but in binaural recording there is a third dimension that has been added; depth. Binaural recordings sound true to life because they capture sound as you would hear it in real time. There isn't a pan control, where you hear the sound coming from is exactly where it came from in real life (Beat techniques, 2018). This type of recording was a product of the late 1800's. Early sound recorders could mimic what the ears perceive by setting up microphones at the appropriate distance and placement to emulate how sound is picked up naturally. To play the sound back to them, the engineers would simply reverse their recording and process it through a pair of stereo headphones (Beat techniques, 2018). The video below compares two different 1 minute recordings of a lake front, the first minute is of an omni-directional mic (stereo) and the second minute is a binaural microphone. The quality difference in uncanny.

I think this is where the possibility for a music style such as this becomes nearly endless, through the use of the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart 3D Audio Recording Headset (or something similar), binaural recording has become portable and accessible to the masses. It is already possible to create completely immersive sonic experiences through binaural recording and other live recording techniques. If you add in binaural beats as an undertone to these recordings, it has the possibility to enlighten even the grumpiest of cats. Something else that could take this style to another level would be to somehow incorporate these two techniques into Virtual Reality (VR) through the use of F-Mod or some other type of animation software.

I'll leave you with this immersive piece recorded by Yutaka Hirose titled, Nova.

References:

Oster, G. (1973). Auditory Beats in the Brain.

Demos, J. N. (2005). Getting started with neurofeedback. WW Norton & Company. P.71

Read this before using Brainwave Entrainment - Warnings and advice – UK. (2019). Brainworksneurotherapy.com. Retrieved 9 June 2019, from https://brainworksneurotherapy.com/what-brainwave-entrainment

Monaural Beats | Deep Brainwave Stimulation . (2011). Mind-expanding-techniques.net. Retrieved 9 June 2019, from https://www.mind-expanding-techniques.net/mindcontrol/monaural-beats/

Huang, T., & Charyton, C. (2008). A comprehensive review of the psychological effects of brainwave entrainment. Centre For Reviews And Dissemination (UK). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK75019/

(2019). Enkidulight.com. Retrieved 9 June 2019, from http://www.enkidulight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/A-COMPREHENSIVE-REVIEW-OF-THE-PSYCHOLOGICAL-EFFECT-OF-BRAINWAVE-ENTRAINMENT.pdf

beats, H., & beats, H. (2013). How the brain processes binaural beats. Healthy Hearing. Retrieved 10 June 2019, from https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/51394-How-the-brain-processes-binaural-beats

James V. Hardt. (2015). ISOCHRONIC TONE AUGMENTED BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM. United States.

Birmingham City University. (2013). Relaxation Effects of Binaural Phenomena. Birmingham.

Beat Techniques: Binaural Production | zZounds Music Blog. (2018). zZounds Music Blog. Retrieved 12 June 2019, from https://blog.zzounds.com/2018/11/01/beat-techniques-binaural-production/