Binaural Beats

What does brain science and acoustical science have in common? The binaural beat. This is a way of combining two tones (frequencies, or cycles per second) to make a third and using it to change a person's brainwave frequency. It may sound complicated, but it is easy to understand.

Here is how it works.

If you have two tones that are very close to each other, their waves overlap in a certain way and cancel each other out. This cancellation creates a "beat" that you can actually hear, and that can even change if one of the tones is changed slightly. These beats are the binaural beats.

If you would like to hear an example of this, find two violinists and have them tune their A strings slightly off from each other. When they play them at the same time, you will hear a "wah-wah-wah" sound as the waves cancel each other out. This beat disappears as the strings come into tune with each other.

So what good are they?

Aside from finely tuning a musical instrument, the binaural beats have another use--retraining your brain waves. The brain operates on many different frequencies, and scientists have categorized them into Beta (alert), Alpha (relaxed), Theta (more relaxed, daydreaming), and Delta (asleep).

Now comes the binaural beat. Simply listening to the two beats along with a third will not change your brain waves. You have to sound one tone in each ear, and let your brain do the work. You will still hear the third beat even though the waves are not interacting. Your brain forms the third beat all by itself.

A brainwave entrainment CD, tape, or DVD provides these two tones in separate channels for your brain to work on. The tones are chosen for their ability to produce the third frequency in the category you wish your brain to entrain. For instance, to relax you would choose a program that provides the binaural beats in the Alpha or Theta range, depending on how relaxed you want to be. As your brain forms this beat from the other two, it "entrains" to it, or starts running on that frequency.

Although it takes a little time for your brain to fully adapt to whatever state you have chosen, the time you spend listening to binaural beats can help give you more control over your mental state--and tune your trumpet.