The science

ResearchOtherSystematic review of 19 clinical studies, with meta-analysis where trials could be pooledn = 19

Singing bowls in clinical studies: a systematic review

Cai and colleagues · Integrative Medicine Research

Singing bowls turn up in sound baths, yoga studios and hospital pilot programmes, but the clinical evidence has never been gathered in one place. Cai and colleagues searched nine databases, including…

ResearchGammaOpen-label extension study with external matched controlsn = 5

Two years of daily 40 Hz light and sound in five people with mild Alzheimer’s

Chan and colleagues · Alzheimer’s & Dementia

The 40 Hz story began in mice, where flickering light and clicking sound at gamma frequency appeared to reduce Alzheimer’s pathology. Chan and colleagues report what happened when five people with…

ResearchGammaRandomized 2×2×2×2 factorial between subjects, with a within-subject crossover against control audion = 80

Which binaural beat settings entrain the brain, and do they help attention?

Melnichuk, Cooper and Hawk · Scientific Reports

Studies of binaural beats and attention contradict each other, and Melnichuk, Cooper and Hawk suspected the reason is that everyone uses different settings. So they varied the settings on purpose.…

ResearchThetaThree-arm randomized experiment, single 30-minute sessionn = 308

Monaural beats inside music reduce anxiety; beats alone do not

Venkatesan and colleagues · Frontiers in Psychology

Monaural beats are the less-studied cousin of binaural beats: the pulsing is built into the sound itself rather than created inside the head, so it works from speakers as well as headphones.…

ResearchBinaural beatsSystematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trialsn = 1047

Binaural beats for anxiety and pain around surgery: a meta-analysis of 15 trials

Xiong and colleagues · Complementary Therapies in Medicine

Anxiety before and after surgery is common, and it makes blood pressure swing and pain feel worse. Xiong and colleagues pooled every randomized trial they could find, through December 2024, in which…

Strong evidence

ResearchOtherQuasi-experimental within-subject study, three frequency conditions, pre/post measuresn = 65

Theta, alpha and beta binaural beats all lowered blood pressure, and equally

Yang and colleagues · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

If different beat frequencies do different things to the brain, they should do different things to the body. Yang and colleagues tested that in 65 students, each of whom listened to twenty minutes of…

ResearchGammaWithin-subject EEG comparison of three sound conditionsn = 28

2024

Isochronic-style tones shift EEG power more than gamma binaural beats

Dos Anjos and colleagues · Neuroscience

Dos Anjos and colleagues recorded EEG from 28 people during four minutes each of gamma-frequency binaural beats, a newer isochronic-style pulsed tone, and plain white noise. The question was whether…

ResearchOtherNarrative review of methods and evidence

2024

Is “entrainment” what the brain is actually doing? A methods review

Duecker and colleagues · Journal of Neuroscience

This review is not about any product or therapy. It is about the word that every product and therapy on this topic leans on. When a rhythmic sound or light is presented, brain recordings show…

ResearchBinaural beatsSystematic review of randomized controlled trialsn = 17

2021

Binaural beats and isochronic tones: a systematic literature review

Aparecido-Kanzler, Cidral-Filho and Prediger · Revista Mexicana de Neurociencia

Aparecido-Kanzler and colleagues set out to collect every controlled trial of audio brainwave entrainment they could find. Searching PubMed, MEDLINE, LILACS and ScienceDirect for terms such as…

ResearchOtherEditorial introducing a special issue

2017

Cognitive enhancement: a system view

Reiner, Gruzelier and Bamidis · International Journal of Psychophysiology

Cognitive and brain augmentation for enhanced human intrinsic skills, beyond the familiar boundaries, has inspired the imagination for many centuries. With the recent emergence of new knowledge on the interplay between perception, reasoning and physiology, and the novel cognitive technologies such as virtual/augmented reality, cognitive enhancement has become the focus of intensive research.

ResearchBinaural beatsWithin-subject EEG study, four stimulus conditionsn = 13

2014

EEG activity during binaural beats at four frequencies

Gao and colleagues · International Journal of Psychophysiology

The 2014 study by Gao focuses on the impact of alpha-frequency brainwave entrainment on attentional control. Alpha-frequency brainwave entrainment involves synchronizing the brain's electrical activity with a specific rhythm or frequency, in this case, the alpha frequency.

ResearchThetaTheoretical review

2009

A theory of alpha/theta neurofeedback and creative performance

Gruzelier · Cognitive Processing

This paper is not about listening to sound. Gruzelier reviews a decade of work on alpha/theta neurofeedback, in which a person sits with eyes closed and receives an audio tone that rewards a higher…

ResearchThetaBook chapter, clinical review

2009

QEEG and neurofeedback for assessment and intervention in ADHD

Thompson and Thompson · Introduction to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback (2nd ed.)

Lynda and Michael Thompson’s chapter explains how clinicians use quantitative EEG to characterise children with ADHD, typically finding an excess of slow theta activity relative to faster beta…

ResearchOtherSystematic review of 20 experimental and quasi-experimental studiesn = 20

2008

A systematic review of the psychological effects of brainwave entrainment

Huang and Charyton · Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine

Brainwave entrainment (BWE), which uses rhythmic stimuli to alter brainwave frequency and thus brain states, has been investigated and used since the late 1800s, yet many clinicians and scientists are unaware of its existence. We aim to raise awareness and discuss its potential by presenting a systematic review of the literature from peer-reviewed journals on the psychological effects of BWE...

ResearchThetaRandomized blinded crossovern = 4

2007

Binaural beat technology in humans: two pilot studies

Wahbeh and colleagues · Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Wahbeh and colleagues published two small pilot studies in 2007. The controlled one is the more informative. Four healthy adults came in for two sessions a week apart and listened for thirty minutes…

Not supported

2006

ResearchOtherTwo controlled group experiments with EEGn = 92

Mozart’s music and brain activity during learning

Jaušovec, Jaušovec and Gerlič · Clinical Neurophysiology

This is a Mozart-effect study, not an entrainment study. Jaušovec and colleagues trained students on spatial rotation puzzles and varied when they heard the first movement of Mozart’s sonata K. 448:…

ResearchThetaOne-year multimodal treatment study, biofeedback group self-selectedn = 100

2002

EEG biofeedback, stimulants and parenting style in children with ADHD

Monastra, Monastra and George · Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback

Monastra and colleagues followed one hundred children with ADHD through a year-long programme of Ritalin, parent counselling and school support. Fifty-one of them also received EEG biofeedback, a…

ResearchBinaural beatsMagazine feature describing laboratory observations

1973

Auditory beats in the brain

Oster · Scientific American

Gerald Oster’s 1973 article is where most people’s knowledge of binaural beats begins. When a slightly different pure tone is played to each ear, listeners hear a slow beat that is not present in…