Read up more about Binaural Beats (frequency modulations which have an effect on brainwaves). Really interesting subject, actually. I borrowed a CD from someone, the artist being "Michael Mantra", the album called "Sonic Altar".
It was a sort of background noise feel to it with sounds of the sea, rainfall, there was a section with a thunderstorm, and all throughout was a sort of chanting (I think that the voices were used to create the beat frequency).
Anyway, I'll put a bit of blurb up here followed by a link to the Wiki article. Worth a read if you're interested in how the brain works.
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Perceived human hearing is limited to the range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, though Infrasound - sound below 20Hz - still have scientifically observable effects on humans, however, it is not readily audible, especially at low volume levels.
When the perceived beat frequency corresponds to the delta, theta, alpha, beta, or gamma range of brainwave frequencies, the brainwaves entrain to or move towards the beat frequency.
For example, if a 315 Hz sine wave is played into the right ear and a 325 Hz one into the left ear, the brain is entrained towards the beat frequency (10 Hz, in the alpha range). Since alpha range is associated with relaxation, this has a relaxing effect or if in the beta range, more alertness. An experiment with binaural sound stimulation using beat frequencies in the Beta range on some participants and Delta/Theta range in other participants, found better vigilance performance and mood in those on the awake alert state of Beta range stimulation.
Binaural beat stimulation has been used fairly extensively to induce a variety of states of consciousness, there has been some work done in regards to the effects of these stimuli on relaxation, focus, attention, and states of consciousness. Studies have shown that with repeated training to close frequency sounds that a plastic reorganization of the brain occurs for the trained frequencies and is capable of asymmetric hemispheric balancing.
{{Why the hell is it so bloody hard to insert a table into this sodding blog?!?}}
| Frequency Range | Name | Usually associated with: |
|---|---|---|
| > 40 Hz | Gamma waves | Higher mental activity, including perception, problem solving, fear and consciousness |
| 13-40 Hz | Beta waves | Active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration, arousal, cognition |
| 7-13 Hz | Alpha waves | Relaxation (while awake), pre-sleep and pre-wake drowsiness |
| 4-7 Hz | Theta waves | Dreams, deep meditation, REM sleep |
| < 4 Hz | Delta waves | Deep dreamless sleep, loss of body awareness |
{{it took me over half an hour to try and insert this sodding table. NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PUT HTML TABLES INTO THEIR BLOGS: Make sure the code for your table has NO LINE BREAKS in them (in notepad with Word Wrap off, should be one long line of coding)}}
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