Friday, December 25, 2009

A Brief Introduction to Binaural Beats

By Dan Murphy

Enhanced weight loss, memory enhancement, stress reduction, boosting your energy, health improvement, meditation, and much more can all be assisted by using binaural beats. Perhaps you are curious where this concept of binaural beats came from and the reason why there are so many advantages to utilizing them. Let us explore where binaural beats came from, what they are, and if the binaural beats are effective.

In the year 1839, a man by the name of Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered the interesting phenomenon of binaural beats. When different auditory impulses ("tones") are delivered to both ears at the same time but are different in frequency, the difference in the Hz (hertz, or cycles per second) will be presented as what is referred to as a "binaural beat."

For example, let's assume that you have one tone in each ear. The first tone could be 180 Hz and delivered into your right ear, and the second tone could be 185 Hz and played in the left ear. The difference in frequencies makes a "beat" which is the binaural beat. In the example, the variation would be 5 Hz.

These "beats" that are made will allow the left and right sides of the brain to synchronize with each other. These responses are not heard by the ears; they are perceived by the brain only. The areas of the brain that these perceived responses come from are parts of the brain stem, which come from the superior olivary nucleus located in each of the brain's hemispheres.

These binaural beats are not just used for individuals and are used on a bigger scale. One organization, The Monroe Institute, heavily markets this type of treatment, which has been used in hospitals and similar fields. Several benefits have been achieved from using the binaural beats, which includes less need for pain medicine, much faster recuperation, stabilized blood pressure, and more.

In the year 1999, Anesthesia performed a study. In order to disprove or prove this idea, a study was done which employed three different tapes that were created for the subjects to listen to. Every one of the subjects were undergoing a different procedure, and were all administered a drug called fentanyl. Fentanyl is usually utilized for chronic pain, or chronic breakthrough pain. The three tapes had a recording of either classical music, a product named "Hemisync," or a blank tape. It was discovered that those listening to Hemisync required a reduced amount of fentanyl when compared to the two other tapes.

Explaining that the effectiveness of binaural beats can be shown truly helps this (sometimes misunderstood) method. "Hemispheric Synchronized Sounds and Intraoperative Anesthetic Requirements" was done and truly helped the promotion by showing the world that binaural beats are a benefit to the individuals that listen to them. - 14130

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