AV and Mental Health through Binaural Beats
What Are Binaural Beats?
Binaural beats are a perception of sound created by your brain. If you listen to two tones, each at a different frequency and each in a different ear, your brain creates an additional tone you can hear. This third tone is called a binaural beat. You hear it at the frequency difference between the two tones.
For example, if you listen to one tone at 300 hertz (Hz) and the other tone at 310 Hz, the binaural beat you hear is at 10 Hz. The binaural beat can be heard if the frequency of each tone in your ears is less than 1000 Hz and the difference between the two tones is less than 35 Hz.
How Do Binaural Beats Work?
When each ear hears a tone at a slightly different frequency, your brain tries to compensate by creating the perception of a third sound. This creation of a third sound is caused by the same part of the brain that helps you determine the location of a sound. To hear the binaural beat, you must have sound in each ear. If you remove one of your earbuds, you’ll no longer hear the binaural beat.
When binaural beats are sustained over some time, they can synchronise with your brain waves. As a result, binaural beats can alter your brain wave activity as well as your levels of arousal.
What Can Binaural Beats Do?
Binaural beats can be created at different frequencies. Each frequency is associated with outcomes that correspond to levels of brain wave activity
- Gamma (γ) pattern: Gamma waves are the highest frequency of brain activity between 30 Hz and 50 Hz. This type of brain activity is associated with alertness, concentration, and problem-solving. A small study found that people listening to binaural beats at gamma frequencies of 40 Hz experienced improved memory, cognition, and even mood.
- Beta (β) pattern: Beta waves range between 13 Hz and 30 Hz. These waves in the brain are linked to an active and alert mind. Higher levels of beta waves are also associated with anxiety. Listening to binaural beats in the beta wave pattern has been shown to improve mood and task performance. Other research has shown that listening to binaural beats at 15 Hz improves memory and accuracy.
- Alpha (α) pattern: Between 8 Hz and 13 Hz, alpha waves indicate a relaxed and restful mind. Research shows that binaural beat stimulation in the alpha range can increase creativity in some listeners.
- Theta (θ) pattern: During stage one of sleep, the lightest stage of sleep, your brain produces theta waves at a frequency between 4 Hz and 8 Hz. Theta waves are also associated with drowsiness and meditation. Studies show that listening to binaural beats at a 6 Hz frequency can induce a meditative state.
- Delta (δ) pattern: The slowest brain waves are delta waves. These waves have a frequency under 4 Hz. As you transition into deeper sleep stages, your brain switches from theta to delta waves. Dreaming can occur. Listening to binaural beats at delta frequencies can help you sleep.

Can Binaural Beats Help You Sleep Better?
Preliminary research suggests that binaural beats can help you sleep better. A study using binaural beats at a delta frequency of 3 Hz showed that these beats induced delta activity in the brain. As a result, the use of binaural beats lengthened stage three sleep. Stage three sleep is deep sleep and important for feeling refreshed in the morning.
Other small studies indicate the potential of binaural beats for better sleep. In a study of soccer players listening to binaural beats ranging from 2 Hz to 8 Hz, players reported improved quality of sleep, less sleepiness, and increased ease of waking up. Binaural beats can also help reduce anxiety, leading to improved sleep.
On the other hand, some researchers have argued there is insufficient evidence linking binaural beats with lessened anxiety or improved sleep. Further research on binaural beats, particularly their effects on sleep, must be conducted.
Being exposed to low-frequency binaural beats can change three hormones that are associated with sleep: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), cortisol and melatonin. Cortisol is naturally produced during the day, stimulating alertness and provoking stress. Melatonin is produced naturally in the evening to tell you to go to sleep. Low-frequency binaural beats increase DHEA, leading to reduced cortisol production and increased melatonin levels in the evening by relaxing your body and mind to fall asleep.
When we can breathe and listen with greater focus and awareness, it can impact our nervous system and our psyche. The result is that we can feel more calm and relaxed afterwards—it’s the confluence of sound and its effect on us, greater awareness of breathing, that influences the outcome.
Can Binaural Beats Help You Focus?
Studies have shown that at 40 Hz, there is an improvement in focus and concentration. The combination of frequencies played to the different ears actually get integrated within deep brain centres and can increase focus and concentration in part by increasing levels of the neurochemicals norepinephrine, dopamine and acetylcholine. Just as you fall gradually asleep, there is a delay in becoming focused, so you have to give it time. Focus is dynamic, in general, you continually go in and out of progressively but varying levels of focus. The more you improve the ability to focus by engaging the neural circuits responsible for focus, repeatedly over time through so-called neuroplasticity, the faster your nervous system will respond. People can listen to 40 Hz binaural beats for 5 minutes before starting work and this has seen to improve focus and concentration during the work period. However, you can listen during work if feeling distracted and this has been shown to be beneficial.
Volume is important. Sounds should always be comfortable and never too loud. Too much volume can cause hearing loss, and other physiological effects can impact blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels. Keep in mind that everyone responds differently to sounds, sound frequencies, or any music. Sound and music choices are a matter of personal preference.
Can AV Help with Pain Relief?
In 1992, Richard Hanbury was forced to crash his jeep off a bridge in Yemen. He was pronounced clinically dead for 8 minutes and then in a coma for 6 weeks. After waking up, he spent the next 14 months in the hospital.
The doctors gave Richard five years to live due to the extreme chronic nerve damage pain. After a lightbulb moment while watching a film in the hospital, he began the journey to save his life. To produce the most lasting pain relief, he experimented with the different neuromodulation patterns and bio-metric sensors which normalized how his brain processed pain signals.
The earliest prototype removed all of his residual nerve damage pain, and he has been pain-free since 1993. After much experimentation, he started Sana Health in 2016 to graduate that early anecdotal data into large-scale clinical trials. His device uses both audio and visual inputs, which have made improvements to decrease pain relief for many people, increasing mood levels and making life manageable. The calming effects have also resulted in better mental health outcomes in patients with PTSD.