Binaural beats work by playing slightly different frequencies into your ears. When your brain tries to resolve the minor difference between the two beats you're hearing, they take you quickly and effortlessly into the brainwavelevel that you've decided to listen to.
In case you want to program your own, the frequency range for Theta is between 4 and 7 Hz.
Various trials have shown that this level encourages your brain to make the "feel good" things called endorphins.
One of the other reasons for choosing the theta level when you consider buying a binaural beats MP3 is that they are generally considered to help with learning. Studies have also shown that people listening to them on a regular basis find that they need less sleep - reports vary from between one and four hours less, depending on the person.
Because the theta frequency level is associated with dreaming, you may well come across them when you are searching for items to help you dream - whether that's lucid dreaming or just the quest to banish sleepless nights.
Theta level binaural beats are also associated with increases in memory as well as learning that was mentioned earlier. Because of the way they operate, this can help you to learn topics when other methods haven't been successful.
Research shows that children spend a lot more time with their brains in a theta state than adults do. Which helps to explain why children can soak up information as though they were a sponge, whereas adults can often take longer. It's kind of the same as the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Maybe the equivalent in humans is at least in part to do with a lower level of theta brainwave activity.
You may also come across binaural beat MP3s and CD that use the alpha brainwave level for learning - this works as well as the theta level. So don't panic if you come across different levels of brainwave entrainment being used to the same thing.
Quite a lot of the experiments to prove the effectiveness of binaural beats have been done by an organization called the Monroe Institute. They tend to combine their use with other systems, such as hypnosis.
One thing to be aware of if you are buying any sort of audio with binaural beats included is that the compression used should be as low as possible. Technologies such as MP3 are designed to compress file sizes by cutting out parts of recordings that we don't normally listen to. Typically this includes things such as binaural beats. So you need to make sure that you're getting what you think you're purchasing. It's often better to wait a few days for a CD to arrive but if the download you're looking at is large, chances are that it will also be uncompressed.
Research has shown that all physical states have corresponding brainwave states. This means that anxiety, stress, emotional distress or any number of negative mental and physical states have certain brainwave patterns associated with them. By using binaural beats you can alliviate the symptoms of these states and even remove them by changing the brainwave pattern associated with them.
Likewise, positive states such as deep relaxation, sleep, calmness etc., also have certain brainwave patterns. It is easy to create these states by using binaural beats.
There is strong empirical evidence that suggests certain braibnwave frequencies can be induced for increased creativity, better retention and recall and removale of emotional disharmony and memories..
There are people who have known this for thousands of years and who have practised their own method for inducing these brainwave patterns. Before binaural beats the only other way to create changes in your brainwave frequencies was through deep meditation. It normally takes over 20 years to learn how to enter these deep states.
Now though, we can have access to these states easily through brain entrainment.
Binaural beats allows anyone to enter deep meditative states within minutes. All you need are stereo headphones and a well chosen brain entrainment track.
It was Heinrich Wilhelm who first discovered binaural beats in 1839. He discovered, as an Associate Professor at the University of Berlin, that when he played one sound into the right ear and a similar sound, that was only slightly different in frequency, to the left ear, the brain produced a beat effect. Even though no beat exists the brain interprets the difference between the frequencies of the two sounds and creates the illusion that there is one. These are binaural beats.
In 1973 a paper was published titled "Auditory Beats in the Brain" which outlined the findings of Dr. Gerald Oster who investigated the uses of binaural beats.
The report showed how Gerald Oster expanded on Dove's discovery. Oster discovered that through the use of binaural beats he could alter a subject's brainwaves to match the beat.
On every occasion the listener's brainwaves would begin to resonate to the same frequency as the binaural beats. Oster had discovered that by using these beats he could create precise mental and physical states.
Later research has concluded that binaural beats can be used as a method of meditation which brings all the same benefits that traditional meditation does. This means that as well as using them to create relaxation, deep sleep, calmness etc., it can be used as a means for personal, emotional and mental growth. Binaural beats can literally be used to change you from the inside out!
Both Trevor Johnson & Michael A. Mcgrath are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.