Just looking on youtube, you can find binaural beats for pretty much anything: inflammation cure, pain relief, changing your eye colour, finding love and becoming rich. All the ones I've looked at feature comments from people claiming they've helped them.
They can't possibly do all of the above and I don't think there a studies proving anything but a placebo effect.
And, without truly believing in them, they never had any effect on me. I've tried them in my youth.
I wouldn't say I "believed" but I tried it with an open mind expecting SOMETHING to happen. I borrowed some expensive headphones from the audio production department at school, got relaxed in my bed with a couple candles going, plugged into my nice DAC and.....all I got was bored. I went through like 10 different tracks. Quite the disappointing experience.
What might be more useful would be to put it on in the background while you're falling asleep if you're in a situation where you can have noise while you're going to sleep
My opinion is they are placebo but placebo actually can have effects because you believe they have effects.
I think about it, if you've been listening to binaural beats in order to find love don't you think that you're going to be more likely to find love and therefore you're going to be looking for opportunities to validate your beliefs?
If you are listening to binaural beats to lose weight don't you think that there's a chance that you will intentionally and willfully act in ways that will increase the likelihood that you will lose weight?
And the best part about placebo is even if you know it's a placebo effect it does not prevent it from actually working because humans are cool and weird and funny like that.
Anecdotally, I believe they can induce relaxation or stimulation via entrainment. Like if you listen to something low and soft, I think that relaxes you and something high-pitched and loud stimulates
What speakers do you have that actually produce sound waves that low? Most subwoofers only go down to 20hz since thats about the lowest frequencies humans can hear. Maybe 15hz for a surround sound system so that sound effects can shake the floor when you're watching a movie or something. But 2hz is crazy.
I've tried listening to them but never really experienced much, but then again I didn't know what they were supposed to do so maybe the placebo didn't have a chance to work.
Ah okay, that makes more sense. Thanks for explaining.
I've played in orchestras for most of my life, so I'm sure I've been inadvertently exposed to some binaural beats when the people around me can't play in tune. I can't say it made me feel particularly good, but it certainly had an effect on me in hindsight.
I typically listen to these after taking my morning LSD, and do get some psychoactive effects. Strangely the effects are completely different if I take amphetamines or light up the afternoon crack pipe before listening.
Seriously tho, I just started to listen to this for the first time ever, and it does work as a pretty effective and non-intrusive noise blocker. Easy to ignore.
Edit: never mind the second point, the surroundings just got quieter at the same time I started to listen.
I find them fascinating, but have never found they have such a dramatic effect. Though I tried the Gateway Experience tapes for awhile and definitely slept better when I used them, despite a decided lack of astral travel or whatever.
The only option on its menu that reliably does anything for me is called "morphine pain killer", but it was a game changer for me for incapacitating sea sickness (believe me I had tried so many things I don't think I had any placebo potential left). On land, I've found it effective for post surgery pain, nerve pain, and even the odd depressive crying jag. I guess at this point I'm a believer so I'd be curious to know what effect it has on a "fresh" patient. I don't think I've tried it just for kicks, though, so not sure what you'll notice if you're already feeling ok.
i am going through a sober, healthy jag right now and feel pretty good, but i have saved this comment and will give this a try when I'm not feeling so great.