Scientific Evidence The
scientific evidence below has been drawn from various publications and is
available in the public domain. Physiology
& Behavior, Vol. 63. No. 2, pp. 249-252, 1998©1998 Elsevier Science Inc. Binaural
Auditory Beats Affect Vigilance Performance and Mood James
D. Lane*, Stefan J. Kasiamn*, Justine E. Owens** And Gail R. Marsh* *Departments
of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, North Carolina; and **Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative
Therapies, School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
Virginia Received
18 July 1997; Accepted 29 August 1997 Lane,
J. D., S. J. Kasian, J. E. Owens And G. R. Marsh. Binaural auditory beats affect vigilance performance and mood. PHYSIOL BEHAV 63 (2) 249 252, 1998. – When
two tones of slightly different frequency are presented separately to the
left and right ears the listener perceives a single tone that varies in
amplitude at a frequency equal to the frequency difference between the two
tones, a perceptual phenomenon known as the binaural auditory beat. Anecdotal reports suggest that binaural
auditory beats within the electroencephalograph frequency range can entrain
EEG activity and may affect states of consciousness, although few scientific
studies have been published. This
study compared the effects of binaural auditory beats in the EEG beta and EEG
theta/delta frequency ranges on mood and on performance of a vigilance task
to investigate their effects on subjective and objective measures of
arousal. Participants (n = 29)
performed a 30-min visual vigilance task on three different days while
listening to pink noise containing simple tones or binaural beats either in
the beta range (16 and 24 Hz) or the theta/delta range (1.5 and 4 Hz). However, participants were kept blind to
the presence of binaural beats to control expectation effects. Presentation of beta-frequency binaural
beats yielded more correct target detections and fewer false alarms than
presentation of theta/delta frequency binaural beats. In addition, the beta-frequency beats were
associated with less negative mood.
Results suggest that the presentation of binaural auditory beats can
affect psychomotor performance and mood.
This technology may have applications for the control of attention and
arousal and the enhancement of human performance. ©1998 Elsevier Science Inc. Keywords: binaural auditory beats, vigilance
performance, mood, frequency-following response. Journal
of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 11. No. 3, pp. 263-274, 1997 Accessing
Anomalous States of Consciousness with a Binaural Beat Technology
The Monroe
Institute, 62 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, VA 22938-2317
Abstract
– Exposure
to binaural beats in an environment of restricted stimulation coupled with a
guidance process can safely provide access to and experiences in many
propitious states of consciousness.
This method requires a unique combination of well-understood
psycho-physiological inductive techniques with the addition of a refined
binaural-beat technology. Binaural
beats provide potential consciousness-altering information to the
brain’s reticular activating system.
The reticular activating system in turn interprets and reacts to this information
by stimulating the thalamus and cortex thereby altering arousal states,
attentional focus, and the level of awareness, i.e., the elements of
consciousness itself. This effective
binaural-beat process offers a wide variety of beneficial applications and
vehicle for the exploration of expanded states of consciousness. Keywords: consciousness – altered
states |
Binaural-Beat
Induced Theta EEG Activity and Hypnotic Susceptibility
D.
Brian Brady
Northern
Arizona University
May
1997
Six
participants varying in degree of hypnotisability (two lows, two mediums and
two highs) were exposed to three sessions of a binaural-beat sound stimulation
protocol designed to enhance theta brainwave activity. The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale,
Form C (SHSS: C) was used for pre and post-stimulus measures of hypnotic
susceptibility. Time-series analysis
was used to evaluate anterior theta activity in response to binaural-beat sound
stimulation over baseline and stimulus sessions. A protocol designed to increase anterior theta activity resulted
in a significant increase in theta measures (% activity) between pre-stimulus
baseline and stimulus observations for five of six participants. Hypnotic susceptibility levels remained
stable in the high-susceptible group, and increased moderately in the low and
medium susceptible groups.
Differential
individual response to hypnosis, has, captured the attention of hypnosis
practitioners and researchers since the time of Mesmer, in the late 18th
century. Despite the long recognized
importance of individual variation in hypnotisability, efforts to modify or
increase individual hypnotic susceptibility have proven to be problematic and
controversial.
Part
of the difficulty in addressing the nature of hypnotisability has been the lack
of consensus regarding the basic phenomena of hypnosis. The central issue has been whether observed
hypnotic responses are due to an altered state of consciousness or merely the
product of psychosocial factors.
Considering
hypnosis as either an altered state or as a purely psychosocial phenomenon
served to provide two opposing factions into which most theories of hypnosis
could be grouped. Contemporary hypnosis
researchers tend to hold less extreme positions, realizing the benefit of a
perspective, which is comprised of the strengths of both the special-process
(i.e., altered state of consciousness) and the social-psychological theoretical
domains.
The
1960’s witnessed the advent of standardized hypnotic susceptibility
measurements. Reliable standardized
instruments have been developed for use with groups and individuals. Early work with the electroencephalogram
(EEG) designed to identify hypnotic susceptibility also began around this
time. More recent EEG/hypnosis research
has focused on electro cortical correlates of both the state of, and
differential individual response to, hypnosis.
The concept of a reliable electro cortical correlate of hypnotic
susceptibility draws attention to the recent applications of neurofeedback
therapy, which has employed a number of protocols designed for individual
brainwave modification. Recent advances
in the application of binaural-beat technology and the associated EEG frequency
following response, which can be either relaxing or stimulating, have
demonstrated efficacy of brainwave modification in areas such as enriched
learning, improved sleep, and relaxation (Atwater, 1997). In consideration of recent EEG / hypnosis
research along with the recently demonstrated efficacy of EEG neurofeedback
training research and the binaural-beat technology applications, it would seem
that the lingering question of hypnotisability modification can now be
addressed by utilizing brainwave modification within a systematic protocol.
As
mentioned earlier, it has often been the case in the past to view the field of
hypnosis as being dominated, theoretically, by two opposing camps; the
special-process and the social-psychological.
In general, the special-process view holds that hypnosis induces a
unique state of consciousness; whereas, the social-psychological view maintains
that hypnosis is not a distinct physiological state.
Popular
authors of the post-Mesmeric period (i.e., mid 19th century), such
as James Braid, proposed psycho physiological and sometimes neurophysiological
explanations for the hypnotic phenomenon (Sabourin, 1982). In fact, Braid adopted the term
‘neuro-hypnology’ to describe the phenomenon and is credited as the originator
of the term ‘hypnosis’ (Bates, 1994, p.24).
The work of other English physicians, such as John Elliotson and James
Esdaile, on surgical anesthesia and clinical pain relief in the mid-19th
century (Soskis, 1986), are indicative of the psycho physiological zeitgeist of
hypnosis in that time. This
physiologically oriented perspective is reflected in Hilgard’s neodissociation
model (Hilgard, 1986), which suggests that hypnosis involves the activation of
hierarchically arranged subsystems of cognitive control. This dissociation of consciousness is
clearly manifested in the realm of hypnotically induced analgesia. Hilgard’s conception of a ‘hidden observer’
(Hilgard, 1973) as a dissociated part of consciousness, a part that is always
aware of non-experienced pain and can be communicative with the therapist, is
exemplified in his description of a hypnotically analgesic individual whose
hand and arm were immersed in circulating ice water as follows:
All
the while that she was insisting verbally that she felt no pain in hypnotic
analgesia, the dissociated part of herself was reporting through automatic
writing that she felt the pain just as in the normal non-hypnotic state (p.
398).