

“And that gives you a good indication that the story is more complicated than many of the behavioral studies want to convince you.” “In the electrophysiological neuroimaging studies, you will find the results are split,” Bhattacharya says. Unfortunately, few actual brain imaging studies of binaural beats exist, and those that do have produced mixed results. ”Ī central problem with the available research, according to Bhattacharya, is that most studies on binaural beats go looking for a specific outcome, such as improved concentration, rather than analyzing an underlying mechanism in the brain and working from there. But there’s no solid evidence they can make anyone smarter, sleep better or “ cleanse their chakras. Brainwaves are the regular patterns that firing neurons create in our brains, so binaural beats could be bringing these rhythmic patterns into alignment - though some research disputes this. This allegedly causes both hemispheres of the brain to harmonize their brainwaves, a phenomenon called neural entrainment. When each ear picks up a slightly different pitch, the brain tries to compensate and finds a frequency somewhere in the middle. You can hear the curious beat at the center of this optical illusion best with a pair of good headphones to drown out interfering sound. However, the authors note whatever mechanism is creating these changes remains unknown. What’s more, the effects increased the longer people listened. This includes boosting attention span, dampening anxiety and promoting pain relief, although evidence was modest. Nonetheless, a 2018 meta-analysis in Psychological Research examined 22 studies and found indications that binaural beats might affect our brains in some way.
