Read this: Calm mind creates complex tunes
Scientists already know that music can affect a person’s physiological state, inducing excitement or relaxation. But researchers have turned the idea on its head with a system that composes music based on how relaxed a person is.
Psychoacoustics is a legitimate, well-respected scientific field, but there’s also some other interesting stuff about sound, brainwave states and relaxation available on the internet – mostly to do with different frequencies via headphones to achieve various states of relaxation/meditation.
It sounds hokey as all hell – but the principle of entrainment is pretty sound – and the results are interesting.
Brainwaves operate at frequencies lower than the human ear can detect. We can hear up to around 22kHz (if we’re lucky) and down as low as around 20Hz. Electroencephalography measures brainwave activity. A relaxed brain in a waking dream state – just about to fall asleep – is between 8Hz and 14Hz – too low a frequency to be audible.
But if you play a 330z tone in one ear (for instance), and a 340Hz tone in the other, it sets up a 10Hz standing wave in the middle. No oscillation likes to act against the current, and two waves side by side generally end up in unison. It’s just one of those things.
The result is that your brain syncs up to the 10Hz wave – and you’re relaxed. There are even theories that suggest that different states of awareness are linked to precise brainwave patterns – and that simply setting your brain to sync to those patterns via binaural beats, as they’re called, will cause you to emulate those effects.
There are frequencies at which the brain takes in new information well, and also studies better (relaxed awareness – Alpha waves – that 10Hz oughta do it), there are frequencies at which you are incredibly alert and actively concentrating… and there are states at which you are well and truly meditating without having to go to lessons.
I came across a website that even suggested a particular frequency (specific to 5 decimal places) that would allow you to emulate an LSD trip without actually taking any chemicals.
Did I try it? Of course. Did it work? Well, what do you think?
It was kinda trippy, but it was far from hallucinogenic. Maybe I wasn’t doing it quite right – or long enough – or something. Still – that’s as close as I’ll get to actually taking acid: a tone in my ears via headphones. Such a party guy…
The really interesting thing about binaural recording is the 3D effect that real binaural recordings can produce. Put a dummy’s head on the table at a jazz club. The dummy has high quality microphones in each ear, connected to a minidisc. Listen back on headphones, and you get the weird sense that your head is where that dummy’s head was. It’s a completely 3D aural experience that is quite astonishing. Only works with headphones of course, but it’s really quite incredible.
Sorry – long post, but there’s some really cool stuff you can do with sound and brains.
This MIT Media Lab project however is the first bio-feedback audio setup I’m aware of that actually changes the musical arrangement based on the state of relaxation of the listener.
Now that’s just weird…
