202 replies to this topic

[LBGSHI]

Your perceived laziness regarding this matter is very relevant to the discussion, as it's putting a drain on me (and maybe others) to go around digging up information you can easily find yourself. I'm not sure if this is clear to you, but I'm not in this thread to prove to you that brainwave entrainment works.

It's not information I "can easily find" myself, as neither I nor anyone else in this thread have been able to find any such information. And I don't intend to "put a drain on" anyone; I've only kept responding to this thread because people keep responding to me with statements I feel need response, after which they feel my statements need response...and the cycle continues.

I'm not against studies, I'm against your infatuation with them. I think studies are overvalued, and in putting them with anecdotes I've stated clearly just how much weight I think they should be given. And that's before I go into studies influenced to go the way of those funding them, and studies that, as a group, defiantly disprove or prove some topic of interest, but then end up being defiantly disproven.

OK, that's an opinion that's yours to hold if you like, but which doesn't seem fair given that almost the whole of our progress technologically and scientifically has been the result of studies and similar research, not anecdotal feelings about how something works. If you believe that studies are equal in merit to anecdotal reports, just understand that you're in the minority and that means it's not unreasonable for someone to disagree with your opinion.

As for my mind control comment, that was made as I'm either going Schizophrenic (not likely, but it's an easy conclusion), or am being (electronically?) harassed and controlled everyday by sources unknown.

I don't mean this is any offensive way at all (psychological issues are nothing to be mocked), but consider what you're saying: you believe you're being "harassed and controlled everyday by sources unknown", and you find it "unlikely" that this is schizophrenia rather than real life mind control. It's certainly a step in the right direction to acknowledge the possibility of a mental/psychological cause to this feeling, but you should think logically and realize that if anyone else told you this before you felt this way, you would assume they were experiencing a break with reality, and you would almost certainly be correct. This is something you should speak with a doctor about if possible. Again, I'm not making a joke or putting you down. I'm just giving the advice that seems reasonable.

[Heh]

Of course the information is easy to find! EEG output of monitored brain activity while listening to entrainment tracks are everywhere. You eliminate this source of information by introducing the possibility of the videos being fake, and then you ignore the studies (from the list I shared earlier) that state continued entrainment seems to have an effect on EEG output, or that benefit has been seen when using entrainment audio on those living with ADHD, etc. I'm glad I'm more concerned with discussing the technology and with finding other uses for it than proving it works, because if I had to go back and forth with you about this, I'd lose my mind. Figuratively speaking.

Science has done a lot for the advancement of mankind, as has the anecdotal "hunch" like moments that created the question that launched that process of scientific inquiry. Not studies. Though, obviously, studies, whether done in someone's backyard, or in a more formal setting, are a part of the scientific process that helps validate or invalidate something that seems promising. I do not see studies as definitive.

As for my mention of being harassed and controlled, the doctors are worthless, and all I hope is that this doesn't happen to you as well. I don't think this is Schizophrenia, so you can throw me taking a "step in the right direction" out the window. I would begin loading up links to videos and what's been written about this topic, and go down the path of trying to prove it, but I don't think it matters or is worth it. In everything I've read it has clearly stated that the harassment is designed to look like Schizophrenia (if they aren't literally inducing it), and that the system is set up to simply mark you crazy and pile you in with those that may legitimately be having problems. In a way it's perfect, because they've done the work of establishing that someone that's Schizophrenic won't know that they are (which is BS), and have layered that onto the pile of excuses they use to have the masses nod their head and move along, as though they know anything, and to strip the target of all credibility.

Edited by Joel, 04 February 2013 - 10:31 PM.

[Psionic]

binaural beats once again doesn't affect brainwaves, based on EEG

A quantitative electroencephalographic study of meditation and binaural beat entrainment.

RESULTS:
Experienced meditators displayed increased left temporal lobe δ power when the facilitative binaural beats were applied, whereas the effect was not observed for the novice subjects in this condition. When the hindering binaural beats were introduced, the novice subjects consistently displayed more γ power than the experienced subjects over the course of their meditation, relative to baseline.
CONCLUSIONS:
Based on the results of this study, novice meditators were not able to maintain certain levels of θ power in the occipital regions when hindering binaural beats were presented, whereas when the facilitative binaural beats were presented, the experienced meditators displayed increased θ power in the left temporal lobe. These results suggest that the experienced meditators have developed techniques over the course of their meditation practice to counter hindering environmental stimuli, whereas the novice meditators have not yet developed those techniques.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21480784

and more http://en.wikipedia..../Binaural_beats

[umop 3pisdn]

I was going to get a CES unit for the hell of it, originally I was thinking of using it on the alpha setting before practicing sitting meditation just for some preparatory relaxation or whatever, and now I'm wondering if it would be good to use in the gamma frequency range while meditating as well. I know Siro had mentioned that there was some difficulty meditating with gamma frequencies, but I'm no so concerned with that so much as I don't know if AVE and CES work in a similar way. I guess the mechanism for both isn't really understood, anyways, so I don't imagine that any answer to that question could be unambiguous. I was just kind of wondering if anyone had any experience with CES and AVE and how they compare. The meditation I was planning on practicing was focusing on a visual object (color kasina) and I wanted to leave out unnecessary or potentially distracting stimuli which is why I would rather not incorporate auditory stimuli.

[LBGSHI]

Of course the information is easy to find! EEG output of monitored brain activity while listening to entrainment tracks are everywhere. You eliminate this source of information by introducing the possibility of the videos being fake, and then you ignore the studies (from the list I shared earlier) that state continued entrainment seems to have an effect on EEG output, or that benefit has been seen when using entrainment audio on those living with ADHD, etc.

You didn't share any studies; you linked to Google. In the studies I turned up, including those found by following your Google link, I haven't seen anything stating that binaural beats induce brainwave entrainment. I've seen studies concerning whether or not binaural beats have an effect on people, some of which seem to imply they do (but these don't employ a control group to see what happens when someone hears the same noise with no inaudible binaural beat), but these aren't what I asked about. I was just curious to see if anyone had found any studies directly linking binaural beats to brainwave entrainment. As for YouTube videos, I didn't know there were EEG-monitored binaural beats videos "everywhere"; what would be more interesting is if there were videos analyzing EEG output during control (pink noise with no binaural beat) and real binaural beats. Even if some of these YouTube videos are legitimate (if they're "everywhere", some of them are likely real), they don't show anything new, as any stimulus affects brainwaves after the brain interprets and processes that data...the real question is, does the brain interpret and process data from binaural beats differently than that of identically audible noise with no binaural beats?

Science has done a lot for the advancement of mankind, as has the anecdotal "hunch" like moments that created the question that launched that process of scientific inquiry. Not studies. Though, obviously, studies, whether done in someone's backyard, or in a more formal setting, are a part of the scientific process that helps validate or invalidate something that seems promising. I do not see studies as definitive.

OK.

As for my mention of being harassed and controlled, the doctors are worthless, and all I hope is that this doesn't happen to you as well. I don't think this is Schizophrenia, so you can throw me taking a "step in the right direction" out the window. I would begin loading up links to videos and what's been written about this topic, and go down the path of trying to prove it, but I don't think it matters or is worth it. In everything I've read it has clearly stated that the harassment is designed to look like Schizophrenia (if they aren't literally inducing it), and that the system is set up to simply mark you crazy and pile you in with those that may legitimately having problems. In a way it's perfect, because they've done the work of establishing that someone that's Schizophrenic won't know that they are (which is BS).

You can't really say that the doctors are worthless, until you go see one and try something he prescribes to treat these symptoms. Alternatively, you could always do what actual schizophrenics do when they believe someone is poisoning them or controlling their minds (which is very common in schizophrenics) - avoid eating or drinking anything you didn't buy that day from somewhere no one could have predicted you'd go and that would be difficult to add schizophrenia-inducing drugs to (or, difficult to do so without inadvertently doing so to many other people in your area, which would certainly be found out eventually), and in the comfort and privacy of your home, cover your body in something which electronic data transmission would have a hard time penetrating (lead, for example). If this doesn't solve the problem, then it's occurring from within. Note that I'm not really advising you to do all of this (I'm advising you to see a doctor and get this problem addressed properly), but mentioning that it's the normal way schizophrenics attempt to block their suspected enemies from controlling or affecting their minds, and that theoretically, assuming what you are implying is actually occurring (which is almost completely out of the realm of possibility), it should definitely halt this process.

In closing, I'm not saying it's literally impossible that someone could be intentionally altering your mental functions - for example, congressional hearings and existing documents proved that Project MKUltra really happened (http://en.wikipedia....Project_MKUltra - but it's incredibly unlikely. As a friend (I'm not your enemy just because we disagree about binaural beats), I'm advising you to see a doc, while you're still in one piece.

Edited by LBGSHI, 04 February 2013 - 10:43 PM.

[LBGSHI]

binaural beats once again doesn't affect brainwaves, based on EEG

A quantitative electroencephalographic study of meditation and binaural beat entrainment.

RESULTS:
Experienced meditators displayed increased left temporal lobe δ power when the facilitative binaural beats were applied, whereas the effect was not observed for the novice subjects in this condition. When the hindering binaural beats were introduced, the novice subjects consistently displayed more γ power than the experienced subjects over the course of their meditation, relative to baseline.
CONCLUSIONS:
Based on the results of this study, novice meditators were not able to maintain certain levels of θ power in the occipital regions when hindering binaural beats were presented, whereas when the facilitative binaural beats were presented, the experienced meditators displayed increased θ power in the left temporal lobe. These results suggest that the experienced meditators have developed techniques over the course of their meditation practice to counter hindering environmental stimuli, whereas the novice meditators have not yet developed those techniques.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21480784

and more http://en.wikipedia..../Binaural_beats

Right, this study has yielded nearly identical results to another that was discussed earlier in this thread (http://www.sciencedi...031938497004368). It shows that one type of binaural beat provided a different effect than another type of binaural beat. It also compares binaural beats to just plain meditation, but it never compares binaural beats using a given audible sound to the same audible sound with no binaural beats. Of course any sound going into your ears will cause an effect on brain activity, as it's a simple stimulus. The question, which is apparently very difficult for some people to grasp, is whether or not binaural beats really have anything to do with directly affecting brainwaves, or if binaural beats are just as good as non-binaural beats with the same audible noise.

[Heh]

I linked to the results returned after running a Google search of PubMed using the relevant keywords. That is a list of studies, though, yes, it's not presented as is typical here, which would involve me copying the abstracts and pasting them all in. And that's simply because I didn't want to sit there copying them all.

Why would I think you're an enemy because we do not share the same opinion on brainwave entrainment? I don't know where this is coming from, MK-Ultra, or some other means, but to address your point, I've been to the psych ward more than once (and I've taken the medication) and that didn't seem to help anything. Let's not go back and forth about this. I've been incapacitated with this problem (likely an act of revenge due to me quitting some job, but who knows) for over 2 years, resulting in me being way ahead of you simply by having to sit here trying any and everything to have this end. Also, this is unrelated to the thread.

[Heh]

binaural beats once again doesn't affect brainwaves, based on EEG

A quantitative electroencephalographic study of meditation and binaural beat entrainment.

RESULTS:
Experienced meditators displayed increased left temporal lobe δ power when the facilitative binaural beats were applied, whereas the effect was not observed for the novice subjects in this condition. When the hindering binaural beats were introduced, the novice subjects consistently displayed more γ power than the experienced subjects over the course of their meditation, relative to baseline.
CONCLUSIONS:
Based on the results of this study, novice meditators were not able to maintain certain levels of θ power in the occipital regions when hindering binaural beats were presented, whereas when the facilitative binaural beats were presented, the experienced meditators displayed increased θ power in the left temporal lobe. These results suggest that the experienced meditators have developed techniques over the course of their meditation practice to counter hindering environmental stimuli, whereas the novice meditators have not yet developed those techniques.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21480784

and more http://en.wikipedia..../Binaural_beats

Right, this study has yielded nearly identical results to another that was discussed earlier in this thread (http://www.sciencedi...031938497004368). It shows that one type of binaural beat provided a different effect than another type of binaural beat. It also compares binaural beats to just plain meditation, but it never compares binaural beats using a given audible sound to the same audible sound with no binaural beats. Of course any sound going into your ears will cause an effect on brain activity, as it's a simple stimulus. The question, which is apparently very difficult for some people to grasp, is whether or not binaural beats really have anything to do with directly affecting brainwaves, or if binaural beats are just as good as non-binaural beats with the same audible noise.

Binaural beats (or the commonly used and more powerful Isochronic tones) come into play when one is trying play sound at a frequency below the threshold of human hearing (let's say its 20Hz). Binaural beats are no different from any other generated tone, save the fact that they trick the brain into hearing a lower frequency by offsetting the sound entering the left ear from right ear by that frequency. So a tone with a 528Hz frequency, for example, doesn't need to use the binaural technique, it can simply be played as a normal recording.

Moving from that, the idea is that changing the frequency of the tone being played changes the response in the brain, and it is fiddling with these frequencies to gain some repeatable effect that is the subject of curiosity. And that curiosity is further fueled when someone listens to a specific frequency for 30 minutes and it produces results within them equal to or better than other things they've tried, or it produces results where nothing else has.

Edited by Joel, 04 February 2013 - 11:09 PM.

[LBGSHI]

Why would I think you're an enemy because we do not share the same opinion on brainwave entrainment?

I was just stating that in case you viewed this conversation as adversarial, which it isn't. If you never did, disregard.

Also, this is unrelated to the thread.

Yes, you're right. Let's allow the thread to resume its normal course, barring the appearance or discovery of new studies.

Edited by LBGSHI, 04 February 2013 - 11:10 PM.

[Absent]

Holy Crap Guys, take the personal bickering elsewhere. It's fine to disagree but lets not waste pages arguing about how the other person is flawed in whatever ways. Take that to a PM, please.

Try to keep the thread to discussions about effects, studies, research, experiences, etc. It should be obvious. If you feel something is relevant to the actual content to the thread, then post it. If you're planning to post ABOUT a particular person, just don't... PM them. THINK before you post!

[Psionic]

binaural beats once again doesn't affect brainwaves, based on EEG

A quantitative electroencephalographic study of meditation and binaural beat entrainment.

RESULTS:
Experienced meditators displayed increased left temporal lobe δ power when the facilitative binaural beats were applied, whereas the effect was not observed for the novice subjects in this condition. When the hindering binaural beats were introduced, the novice subjects consistently displayed more γ power than the experienced subjects over the course of their meditation, relative to baseline.
CONCLUSIONS:
Based on the results of this study, novice meditators were not able to maintain certain levels of θ power in the occipital regions when hindering binaural beats were presented, whereas when the facilitative binaural beats were presented, the experienced meditators displayed increased θ power in the left temporal lobe. These results suggest that the experienced meditators have developed techniques over the course of their meditation practice to counter hindering environmental stimuli, whereas the novice meditators have not yet developed those techniques.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21480784

and more http://en.wikipedia..../Binaural_beats

Right, this study has yielded nearly identical results to another that was discussed earlier in this thread (http://www.sciencedi...031938497004368). It shows that one type of binaural beat provided a different effect than another type of binaural beat. It also compares binaural beats to just plain meditation, but it never compares binaural beats using a given audible sound to the same audible sound with no binaural beats. Of course any sound going into your ears will cause an effect on brain activity, as it's a simple stimulus. The question, which is apparently very difficult for some people to grasp, is whether or not binaural beats really have anything to do with directly affecting brainwaves, or if binaural beats are just as good as non-binaural beats with the same audible noise.

I dont know if its trusthworthy study, one of the first results on google

The Influence of Binaural Beats on Brain Wave Activity

http://staff.science...C2011/Kappa.pdf


The results seem to positively answer the research question: ‘Does listening to binaural beats have a significant effect on brain wave activity compared to normal sounds?’ In other the binaural beats indeed affect the specific brainwaves they were designed to affect, as was also predicted in the hypothesis. For both alpha and theta stereo/mono comparisons, the alpha and theta values were consistently higher while listening to the stereo beat than while listening to the mono sounds. Significance of the measured differences has been tested and verified by applying tests and utilizing a classifier to assess and classify the different data sets. Furthermore, by deleting extreme outliers and thus reducing the standard deviation, the possibility that the results are derived by random change measurements is minimized. Implications The fact that binaural beats are indeed able to induce an increase in targeted brain activity might bear some important implications. Whereas other research, such as the study performed by Pratt et. al (2010), has failed to discover a significant difference in brain activity between binaural and normal beats, this experiment shows that there is a significant difference in brain activity caused by binaural beats. These results, which possible provide empirical evidence that there is indeed a significant difference caused by binaural beats, might prove to be useful as scientific support for the various claims of personal improvement caused by binaural beats made by their producers. Nonetheless, more research will have to be performed before empirical conclusions can be drawn, as there are various limitations which one has to take into account before interpreting the results of this experiment.


BTW Hows the user´s experiment going? I have tried two days (30min 48Hz each day) and definitely felt some change on my behaviour, although hard to say if it was for good or bad.. also dream intensity was somewhat increased.

[Tukotih Doji]

Just wanted to chip in, I've had somewhat decent experience with binaural and isochronic beats in the past and would like to see if anyone has tried 40-48Hz isochronic beat. I've read about isochronic beats affecting "more" in the brain as the frequency in a binaural beat is affecting your brain unevenly somehow, I think the author mentioned something like a place where the tone was generated from the two and have it's maximum effects there. Might just be complete bogus, but I'd like it if someone who have had consistent results with binaural gave isochronic ones a try. You can create them yourself using Gnaural.

In the meantime, I will be having 20-40min 48Hz sessions for a few days and see if I find any interesting results.
Thanks for reviving a topic that needed reviving! It's an interesting one to say the least, but the lack of scientific studies bothers me.

Edit: Excuse me for somewhat flawed sentence-composition, I'm a little sleep-deprived.

Edit 2:
Another question, can anyone feel any significant difference between 40 and 48?
Also, which base-frequencies work for you? I've seen someone mention 100Hz, but the videos on YouTube tend to have higher ones, I remember from my old days with binaural beats that there was some kind of "optimal" base-frequency. But as usual, might all be bogus since it likely lacks scientific validation.

Edited by Tukotih Doji, 05 February 2013 - 11:03 AM.

[Rethar]

Just wanted to chip in, I've had somewhat decent experience with binaural and isochronic beats in the past and would like to see if anyone has tried 40-48Hz isochronic beat. I've read about isochronic beats affecting "more" in the brain as the frequency in a binaural beat is affecting your brain unevenly somehow, I think the author mentioned something like a place where the tone was generated from the two and have it's maximum effects there. Might just be complete bogus, but I'd like it if someone who have had consistent results with binaural gave isochronic ones a try. You can create them yourself using Gnaural.

In the meantime, I will be having 20-40min 48Hz sessions for a few days and see if I find any interesting results.
Thanks for reviving a topic that needed reviving! It's an interesting one to say the least, but the lack of scientific studies bothers me.

Edit: Excuse me for somewhat flawed sentence-composition, I'm a little sleep-deprived.

Edit 2:
Another question, can anyone feel any significant difference between 40 and 48?
Also, which base-frequencies work for you? I've seen someone mention 100Hz, but the videos on YouTube tend to have higher ones, I remember from my old days with binaural beats that there was some kind of "optimal" base-frequency. But as usual, might all be bogus since it likely lacks scientific validation.

I've tried both isochronic tones and binaural beats with 40hz. Not really much of a difference in terms of a "whole brain" vs. partial kind of feel. 48hz I tried it out for 10 minutes after 20 minutes of 40hz. It seemed like a faster kind of feeling vs. 40hz but made me feel too strung out in comparison, I figure I either have to try it by itself one day or just get used to 40hz first.

[alexburke]

Im on my 4th day with usually 2 sessions a day at 30 minutes a session with brainwaves from IDoser. Using Gamma waves dose.

I usually have to meditate after using it or later on because my mind is thinking to much, its a good thing and bad thing.
I'm a general out of the box/system thinking person to begin with, I'm getting places in my study/rearch tho.
Ideas are hitting me like bricks, its amazing..

Only thing is if I'm not focused on a task at hand, I'm over thinking something
not worth my time. So if you have nothing to do and you use this you will most likely go crazy thinking to much.

Good to watch a documentary and taking notes while playing it in the background.
Ask questions, answers come more easily.

Worth noting that the effects arnt when its playing its later in the day.

Edited by alexburke, 05 February 2013 - 08:17 PM.

[Elus]

I'm skeptical at this point because the evidence suggests that this doesn't change brain waves.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/23085086

Tracking EEG changes in response to alpha and beta binaural beats.
Abstract
A binaural beat can be produced by presenting two tones of a differing frequency, one to each ear. Such auditory stimulation has been suggested to influence behaviour and cognition via the process of cortical entrainment. However, research so far has only shown the frequency following responses in the traditional EEG frequency ranges of delta, theta and gamma. Hence a primary aim of this research was to ascertain whether it would be possible to produce clear changes in the EEG in either the alpha or beta frequency ranges. Such changes, if possible, would have a number of important implications as well as potential applications. A secondary goal was to track any observable changes in the EEG throughout the entrainment epoch to gain some insight into the nature of the entrainment effects on any changes in an effort to identify more effective entrainment regimes. Twenty two healthy participants were recruited and randomly allocated to one of two groups, each of which was exposed to a distinct binaural beat frequency for ten 1-minute epochs. The first group listened to an alpha binaural beat of 10Hz and the second to a beta binaural beat of 20Hz. EEG was recorded from the left and right temporal regions during pre-exposure baselines, stimulus exposure epochs and post-exposure baselines. Analysis of changes in broad-band and narrow-band amplitudes, and frequency showed no effect of binaural beat frequency eliciting a frequency following effect in the EEG. Possible mediating factors are discussed and a number of recommendations are made regarding future studies, exploring entrainment effects from a binaural beat presentation.

[health_nutty]

I'm skeptical at this point because the evidence suggests that this doesn't change brain waves.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/23085086

Tracking EEG changes in response to alpha and beta binaural beats.
Abstract
A binaural beat can be produced by presenting two tones of a differing frequency, one to each ear. Such auditory stimulation has been suggested to influence behaviour and cognition via the process of cortical entrainment. However, research so far has only shown the frequency following responses in the traditional EEG frequency ranges of delta, theta and gamma. Hence a primary aim of this research was to ascertain whether it would be possible to produce clear changes in the EEG in either the alpha or beta frequency ranges. Such changes, if possible, would have a number of important implications as well as potential applications. A secondary goal was to track any observable changes in the EEG throughout the entrainment epoch to gain some insight into the nature of the entrainment effects on any changes in an effort to identify more effective entrainment regimes. Twenty two healthy participants were recruited and randomly allocated to one of two groups, each of which was exposed to a distinct binaural beat frequency for ten 1-minute epochs. The first group listened to an alpha binaural beat of 10Hz and the second to a beta binaural beat of 20Hz. EEG was recorded from the left and right temporal regions during pre-exposure baselines, stimulus exposure epochs and post-exposure baselines. Analysis of changes in broad-band and narrow-band amplitudes, and frequency showed no effect of binaural beat frequency eliciting a frequency following effect in the EEG. Possible mediating factors are discussed and a number of recommendations are made regarding future studies, exploring entrainment effects from a binaural beat presentation.

This mirrors my results with binaural beats: I have felt absolutely nothing (nor did I really expect to). However, I'm a open minded person so I thought I would try it especially considering is was free.

[alexburke]

some of you are probably using cheap headphones, earphones, Or the youtube videos arnt actually the right frequency or it hasnt been
designed right with a differnt frquency for each ear.

[fifth]

Hey Silo,

If your still following this would you mind uploading the 40hz and the 48hz? I noticed you posted the BWgen file but I'm on Ubuntu and BWgen isn't available on my platform. YouTube is an option but as I like to have all my mp3's on the iPod classic it would be nice to have freely available.

If you have some time to post it I'd appreciate it.

Have you experienced any other frequencies that you like?

[alexburke]

5th day of gamma brainwave dose. Each day it seems to be expanding its effects in one way or another.

I actually find the sounds of the white noise and the gamma waves relaxing and lucidly "soft"
Up untill now I wasn't enjoying the sound of it.. My thoughts seem more focused on the task at hand.

I took up some new habits.. Taking notes throughout the day on what I am grateful for to focus my attention on more positive.
Writing down every idea, and concept that comes into my mind.

Took up a new blog called bigthink , challanged a top theory physicist theory.. I came up with a pretty good theory to challange his.
It wasnt sufficiant obviously, but it was better then anyone else's.

Got into a theory mindset where my imagination was working with me to challange his theory.. Got an idea about dark matter and was able to
compare it to how the radiation of a microwave works.. Which happened to pop into my head when using the microwave.

All in all, I will be staying with this project and experimenting every day 2 times a day for 30 minutes a session to continue to gain
benefits..

[Mind]

I listened or an hour each day from Monday through Wednesday (around midday) of last week. I had some things going on on Thursday and Friday that prevented me from listening. I listened again Sunday morning. I didn't notice anything. I was in a pleasant mood most days this past week, but then nothing terribly annoying or stressful was going on, so that should be expected.

What it did for me was help me concentrate by blocking out outside noise. I have a fairly decent pair of noise cancelling head phones, so when I have them on I can ignore most things and focus on the computer screen (I was typically checking email, doing LongeCity work, and reading longevity/transhumanist news while listening). That being said, I probably could have been listening to any sort of non-obtrusive/offensive background music and got the same result. Maybe classical or or other mood music.

So it didn't do anything noticeable for me, but something that was cool was humming to match the tone of the binaural beat. If you hum a sharp key that is next to the primary tone you can really make your jaw bone, sinuses, and teeth vibrate. If you go in and out of key it is really cool/weird.

[RJ100]

30mins a day for over a week and there's been zero effect.

The only mitigating factor is that my headphones aren't exactly topnotch, so I'm potentially not getting the sound I should be getting. But how would you ever know? It's not like I have equipment handy to verify what hz is being produced.

[Heh]

It doesn't work for some people, for others it takes closer to a month before effects are noticed. For best results try to use the raw uncompressed audio file (YouTube uploading may ruin the effect) with good quality headphones when you are well-hydrated. Brainwave entrainment, though not many know, also relies on you being well-hydrated. It may take a month for some, but if you haven't noticed anything after a week, then maybe it won't work for you (or maybe you are already "there").

[fifth]

Can somebody please post a raw audio file in between the range of 40hz and 50hz? Been utilizing YouTube but not getting great vibes from the uploads. Got the headphones and the water just missing the beats.

[Absent]

I'm honestly surprised a lot of people don't have many results. Perhaps the amount of results has a lot to do with how engaged in the moment your mind is.

If I listen to Gamma for even 10 minutes within a couple hours before my bed time, then it will take me hours to fall asleep, when I usually fall asleep quickly. The effects I have are very dramatic. I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I have been meditating for many years, maybe my mind is engaged to a higher extent causing it to be effected by things more easily.

[Major Legend]

I think you need decent focus for it to work to begin with, for example my brain is unable to focus on most tasks for over 5 minutes unless its novel, so for some of us maybe our brain just switches off and gets distracted too fast for it to take effect? This is similar to a lot of other stuff - I can only do simple meditation for example, I lack the focus or attention pan to do anything more complicated than a 5 minute exercise.

[Absent]

I've noticed if I'm listening and not focusing on anything in particular, like a paper or book, and my attention is constantly changing, then the effects will be minimized.

[Dissolvedissolve]

I tried this for approximately one week. Although I experienced the benefits similar to those of white or pink noise, they were no greater. I would recommend that those experiencing benefits try using white or pink noise and report any subjective differences in effect.

[alexburke]

I play it in the background behind music and it works great for my focus/attention.
I took some days off and I noticed some negitive changes, I am going to be to listening to this once/twice a day in my routine now.

[Godof Smallthings]

I have tried this for a few days now and noticed increased concentration after each session. I am also taking fish oil and piracetam (2000 mg fish oil, 1600 mg piracetam bidaily) and drinking green and white tea.

Using the software Neuroprogrammer 3 which has its own sessions and also bio-optimization, where you wear a compatible EEG device and the program does constant checks to see how you are responding to a particular frequency. After running the session several times, the program will determine which frequency caused the most entrainment, so that the session is gradually optimized for you to respond to it.

For this purpose I took the existing session called Gamma Energizer, a 20 minute session, and modified it, using a shorter ramp-up period, and increasing the final frequency to 48 Hz. I also removed the background sound track (some sort of nature sounds), leaving only the 'raw' isochronic tones, as I am not bothered by their sound.

To sum up results:

Increased focus/immersion and speed of processing in texts I am reading, including scientific ones. Yesterday I had significantly sped up my work speed.

The increased concentration appears to be a tangible effect. I have the Neurosky MindWave EEG, which comes with a bunch of bundled games. The most useful one for controlling attention is called Mindty Ant. I've been using this on and off since the beginning of July last year, and have found it difficult to command attention at will, but there have been some improvements, and I gradually moved up through the levels. However, I plateaud at the final level for a couple of months, as I could not maintain max attention for extended periods of time.

However, yesterday, for the first time, I beat the final level, got to the bonus stage, and made that as well, maintaining constant 100% attention for several seconds at a time. It seems I have left the plateau. And my subjective feeling, for what it's worth, is that the Gamma entrainment gave me the final boost I needed for that.

However, the Cambridge Brain Sciences IQ test shows no major differences compared to before. I did score reasonably well on the working memory tasks though: 9 on the Monkey Ladder, which is the second time I reach that score. Otherwise I have fluctuated between 6 and 9, with 7 as the most common result. (Got 8 on visual digit span, not too different from before).

It does not cause mind chatter in me, but I do seem to experience some degree of elevated mood, which is welcome. So overall I like this. Haven't noticed any negative side effects.

Edited by Godof Smallthings, 14 February 2013 - 08:05 AM.

[BioFreak]

I find this amusing, as it is a similar pattern I had when discussing with LBGSHI in a thread about collodial gold. For having not much time, I must say, you write an awful lot. It turns out that it becomes an endless debate about LBGSHI saying more studies! not enough evidence! quackery! while the evidence was quite obvious in the last thread (one small pilot study, that because of the sample size itself can be right or wrong, so just a little evidence but nothing else), we went on exchanging looooong posts. Same is happening here. It is ok to ask for studies, but not to use a lack of studies as proof that it does not work. especially in a case like brainwave entrainment, with which I have some experience myself.

LBGSHI, repeat after me: Lack of evidence/weak evidence is not equal of proof that it does not work (unless there is actual evidence that it does not work.)
And also, discounting studies that are not perfect designed (not doubleblind, not lots of samples) to status "they could as well not exist" is not helpful either. Not unless there are well designed studies that allow further conclusions.

Just to be clear: I won't engage in such a type of discussion in this thread again, simply because of the effects I have felt, that were there, that I could reproduce at will.

This discussion drifts away from what this thread is about: trying out gamma brainwave entrainment, exchanging experiences. I would suggest that anyone interested in studies should do that in another thread, and post evidence and discuss it there.

The strongest effects I had:

I used neuroprogrammer 2 when I was very low on dopamine, and had strong adhd.
it has a few presents for adhd(beta range), and they worked like someone turned a switch on so I could think, be productive. That happened every time I used those presents, but was mostly only present while listening to the sounds.
It was a huge help for me, since I was not able to work at all at that time without it. It was like my brain was not able to get its brainwaves up to a certain limit, and at the same time, found it very hard to synchronize both hemispheres. With be, I could "force it to" or assist it, however you want to put it.

Also, I created a few presents for gamma brainwave entrainment around 40hz, and one present was already in neuroprogrammer.
I would get a very, very visual experience(compared to my usual ability to visualize) in my mind where I could see, and almost feel what I imagined.
Also, it seemed much easier and more vivid to remember things from the past.
I was not able to get those effects through meditation alone, and the effects were dependent on the frequencies used.
This rules out any "helps to meditate but does not influcence brainwave patterns" hypothesis for me.

Funny though, I could use gamma be to relax, to let go from the day, I never hat a problem with sleeping. In fact it happened that I slept in during a session.

I eventually stopped though, because my supplementation got better, decreasing the need for a binaural adhd fix. And the effect was only there when listening to brainwave entrainment. Afterwards there was an effect too, but it was not strong enough to make it interesting.
But I have to admit, brainwave entrainment could not possible have fixed low dopamine in my brain, other then synchronizing my brainwaves at a effective frequency while listening to it. Meaning - the cause was low dopamine, be was just erasing the symptoms while I was using it.

By listening at the mp3s from this thread I must say they are pleasant to listen to, but I did not experience a gamma effect - but I am writing this post as I listen to them. But gamma be has been way more effective for me when meditating and keeping my eyes closed. So maybe I am doing it wrong.

@OP I'd love to hear more about how you constructed those gamma brainwave sessions... ramping up, or starting there... binaural, isochronic? with/without music? etc

I wanted to try out your present but the software wants me to buy it to import stuff. :/