Free Binaural Beats for Meditation Training

Binaural beats (binaural tones) happen whenever you hear two different frequencies, one in each ear. Our brain "hears" the difference between the two frequencies. Discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in 1839, they came to prominence in a 1973 Scientific American article by Gerald Oster, "Auditory Beats in the Brain".

If you hear a 200 Hz sound in your left ear and 230 Hz sound in your left ear, your brain reacts to 30 Hz (230-200=30). 30 Hz binaural beat. This happens when the difference between the left and right frequencies is less than 100 Hz. For binaural beats to happen you have to wear stereo headphones so each ear hears one and only one frequency. Stereo separation is a must when listening to binaural beats.

I made MP3 files of binaural beats help me meditate. I wanted to increase my alpha and theta brainwaves. I made sound files with binaural beats that match those brainwaves' frequencies. My brain "hears" the binaural beat and my brainwaves in that frequency range should increase.

This page has more advanced binaural beats. They're complex sounds with more than one frequency and/or have specific patterns in them. These binaural MP3's do not simply target one specific brain wave frequency but have a different objective.

This table describes the various brainwaves, their frequencies, and their effects. This is the starting point for working with brainwave synchronization. One technique is to listening to the Schumann Resonance (7.83 Hz) as the difference between the left and right channels. Hearing the Schumann Resonance increases alpha brainwaves. The Schumann Resonance falls within the alpha brainwave frequency.

Pick a type of brainwave, noting it's frequency range. Make a stereo sound with one pitch in the left and another in the right. Make the difference in the two pitches, the frequency of your desired brainwave. That's a binaural beat used for brainwave entrainment.

Brainwave entrainment using binaural beats can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of certain neurological conditions like Parkinson disease. There are studies linking brainwave training and learning, treatment of addictions, and sleep patterns.

Mix and remix the binaural beat, guided meditations, and meditation timer files together to make MP3 files that work best for you. Experiment, keep notes, share with your friends. Tell me what does and doesn't work for you. Better yet, tell me what you'd like to see up here next! JetCityOrange at gmail dot com

HealingBeats.com is a great resource for all things relating to binaural beats. A round table approach. Here's a DIY approach to working with binaural beats. Gnaural is an open source binaural software package.