Binaural Beats

Collection guide

Collection context

Two ways to listen

The collection holds 13 pieces in two sets. Fixed beats hold one beat rate for the whole nine hours. Brainwave sessions move slowly through one band, once, across nine hours: delta, theta and alpha slow down as they go, while beta and gamma speed up.

Fixed beats

• 1.618 Hz Golden Ratio Delta Beat: Lie back, keep the volume low and let the slowest beat in the collection sit in the background.
• 2 Hz Delta Binaural Beat: Put it on for a long rest, quietly, and stop whenever you like.
• 4 Hz Low Theta Binaural Beat: Try it while you sit with your eyes closed and let your thoughts drift.
• 6 Hz Theta Binaural Beat: Play it during a few minutes of quiet reflection, with your eyes closed if that feels right.
• 7.83 Hz Schumann Resonance: Settle somewhere quiet and let the beat named after the Earth's resonance sit in the background.
• 10 Hz Alpha Binaural Beat: Try it for a calm pause between tasks, eyes open or closed.
• 20 Hz Beta Binaural Beat: Try it quietly in the background of a working session and notice whether you like it there.
• 40 Hz Gamma Binaural Beat: Try it at a low volume while you read or think something through.

Brainwave sessions

• 3.5 to 1.5 Hz Falling Delta Session: Start it as you settle down for a long rest and let it slow down with you.
• 7 to 5 Hz Falling Theta Session: Play it during a long, quiet stretch, such as reading in the evening or lying down.
• 12 to 9 Hz Falling Alpha Session: Put it on for an unhurried afternoon or a slow evening and notice how it sits with you.
• 16 to 24 Hz Rising Beta Session: Try it quietly through a long working day and notice whether you keep it on.
• 32 to 40 Hz Rising Gamma Session: Try it at a low volume during focused reading or study.

How every piece is made

Each piece is two pure sine tones and nothing else: 108 Hz in the left ear and 108 Hz plus the beat in the right. There is no music, noise or pulsing. Your hearing makes the beat from the difference between the ears, so headphones are needed. Every piece plays live in your browser for nine hours, starts the moment you press Play and fades out gently at the end, then it stops by itself and never loops.

How to listen

• Use stereo headphones, with left and right the right way round, and turn off spatial audio or head tracking so each ear gets its own tone.
• Start quietly. Raise the volume only until the low hum is comfortable; there is nothing to gain from playing it loudly.
• Settle somewhere you will not be interrupted. The beat can feel faint, so there is no need to strain to hear it.
• Do not listen while driving or doing anything that needs your full attention.
• If anything feels uncomfortable, such as dizziness, ear discomfort or unease, stop and take the headphones off. If you live with a seizure disorder or any condition affected by rhythmic sound, speak to your doctor before trying it.

What is and is not known

Binaural beats are a real effect of hearing. Whether they change brain activity, or how people feel, is far less settled: a 2019 meta-analysis reported small to moderate average effects on some attention and memory measures with large differences between studies, and a 2023 systematic review found the evidence that the beats change brain activity inconsistent. The band names describe where each beat rate sits, not what it will do. Think of each piece as a listening experiment. Just be curious.

On YouTube

Each piece is also becoming a nine-hour video for the Harmonance YouTube channel, released one a day. A video is linked from its page here once it is public. The first 1.618 Hz golden ratio video from 2023 stays on the channel as the original: watch the original 1.618 Hz video on YouTube.

Read more

• Exploring delta waves
• Brainwave frequencies, band by band
• How binaural beats meet brainwaves
• Tuning into theta waves
• Alpha waves and binaural beats
• Binaural beats and isochronic tones
• A guide to binaural beats
• Gamma waves: a guide