What is Brainwave Entrainment

Stating from a layman’s perspective, entrainment is when one vibrating object induces vibrations of the same frequency into a nearby object. This nearby object may have been vibrating at another frequency or may not be vibrating at all. Entrainment or frequency following response is another name for the same thing. This is very common phenomenon in nature.

Whenever the brain receives a stimulus through eyes, ears or any other senses, it responds by emitting an electrical charge. If the stimulus is rhythmic, such as drumbeats, the brain also produces electrical impulses in rhythm. If the drumbeats are fast enough, consistent and resemble the rhythms of the brainwaves, the brain synchronizes its response to the same rhythm. This is entrainment. It has been shown that the brain can be entrained by any form of rhythmic stimulus, such as drumbeats, clicks, light flickers, physical vibrations, or electrical pulses.

Here we shall see how desired brainwaves can be generated in the brain by sending audio signal from outside.

We all know very well how relaxing it feels when we are near a waterfall or at a beach, because the natural sound of flowing water has a relaxing effect on the brain. Many people hear recordings of natural sounds – jungle, flowing river, ocean waves, waterfall, gongs – and find that relaxing.

Now brainwave entrainment technology has taken this observation a step further and has come up with recordings that offer an amazingly simpler way to relax. The natural sounds are embedded with special sub-audio frequencies. These beats or tones have a direct effect on the brainwaves, although they are not perceptible to your ears.

So, what happens when you hear such music? Your brainwaves tend to resonate at the frequency of the beats – this is called brainwave entrainment. If you change the frequency of the beats, the brainwave frequencies shift towards it in response. In simple terms, the brainwaves obediently follow the beat frequency. This is no mean achievement; it gives you the “remote” to control your brainwaves!

For instance, a 10 Hz beat will help shift your brainwaves to 10 Hz which is in the alpha brainwave region (7 – 13 Hz). This happens automatically, all you have to do is to play the music and let yourself go with it. Within minutes you will be in the company of alpha wave – and relaxing effortlessly.

Audio Stimuli for Brainwave Entrainment

Although binaural beats are popular tool for brainwave entrainment, they are not the only way. Monaural beats and isochronic tones offer much more effective entrainment. Let us see what makes them different from each other.

Binaural beats

This is the most well known form of brainwave entrainment, where two slightly different frequencies are presented to opposite ears. The brain perceives them as a warbling sound at the difference frequency: these cyclic pulsations are called binaural beats. The two input frequencies should be lower than 1000 Hz and the frequency difference only up to 30 Hz. So the binaural beats are manufactured in the brain and not fed through the ears. Headphone is required for this technology to work.

You may ask, why take all the trouble of feeding two different frequencies to ears and making the brain create binaural beats? Why not send in the readymade beats? This is where monaural beats and isochronic tones outsmart binaural beats and obviate the need for headphones.

Monaural beats work similar to binaural beats and combine two sound frequencies to form a pulsating beats. However, they are formed by combining the frequencies digitally or naturally before the sound reaches the ears. They are considerably more effective than binaural beats due to greater amplitude variations compared to binaural beats.

Isochronic tones are evenly spaced well-defined pulses of sound waves. They are created manually by switching on and off the sound source. This is by far the most effective of three methods discussed here. People who don’t respond well to binaural beats often do pretty well with isochronic tones. The spacing between the pulses decides the frequency of the tone. Here you have complete control over the amplitude (height) as well as spacing of pulses.

Proponents of healthy living style find the use of brainwave technology to be practical and beneficial.  There are several acknowledged uses for brainwave entrainment. However, the most common applications are listed here; they are also most widely studied.

• Stress and anxiety relief: The mental states of anxiety and stress prompt high levels of beta activity. By entraining the individual into an alpha frequency stress relief can be achieved.

• Relaxation: Alpha brainwaves are dominant during the periods of relaxation and rest. Entraining brainwaves into the alpha frequency puts the individual into states of relaxation and healing. Lower alpha frequencies should give better relaxation.

• Inducing sleep: The state of deep sleep is characterized by the frequencies of the delta brainwaves, 1-4 Hz. Feeding stimulating frequencies in this range induces sleep when synchronization is achieved.

• Meditation: Theta and alpha brainwaves contribute towards deep meditative states. These are also the frequencies observed during states of deep relaxation and sleep.

Brainwave Frequencies and States of Consciousness

Quick Refresher after a busy day: A 15 minute exposure to low alpha, 7– 10 hz, frequencies should works well.

Relaxation: Choose from 5– 10 hz for different levels of relaxation.

Stress Reduction: Any frequencies below 11 hz will reduce stress.

Induce Sleep: Choose from 4– 6 hz for starters, then go below 3.5 hz, settling on about 1.5 – 2.5 hz for sleep.

Meditation: Choose from 4 – 7 hz. You can either cycle between a few frequencies, or stay at a particular frequency for different results.

Creative Visualization: About 6 hz for sometimes and go up to 10 hz.

Self Hypnosis: Choose from 8 – 10 hz while playing any self-hypnosis tape

Improved Learning: Choose about 7 – 9 hz while playing any learning tapes (like foreign language tapes, etc.) to increase comprehension. You can also play the audio while studying any written material.

Improve ESP / Intuition: The theta range, 4 – 7 hz, helps in this area

Reaching Higher States of Consciousness: Again the theta range, with daily half hour sessions.

More Resources
 
Brainwave Entrainment Technology
Brainwave Entrainment for Students and Professionals
Brainwave Entrainment and Stress Relief