I usually make a habit to fall asleep to hypnosis/positive thinking audio books, and for the most part, it seems to have a strong effect on my mood. When I wake up the next morning I tend to feel like I can tackle my day with more gusto than without them. I'm not sure if it's placebo, or the simple willingness to go forth with a more upbeat attitude that is the result of listening to this kind of stuff, but it works. I guess? I don't know.. I'm not an expert.

However, this video that sprung up on YouTube has divided inner-self seekers even further. Some claim it works amazingly, others call shenanigans. According to the description..

When two tones of specific frequencies are played through headphones, the brain can become confused and produce its own, imagined tone—a three-dimensional audio hallucination heard only within the head of the listener. The frequencies that produce this phenomenon are known as Binaural Beats.

What is happening is that the brain is not used to hearing frequencies in each ear so close together and with such intensity—these sounds do not occur in nature and so a mechanism in our brains has not evolved to understand them. Instead, the superior olivary nucleus, the area of the brain which controls aspects of three-dimensional sound perception, bridges the difference between the varying frequencies in Binaural Beats with a common "third tone" in an attempt to normalize this audio into something we can understand. What's weirder is that each person hears the "third tone" differently: People with Parkinson's disease can't hear it at all; women will hear different tones as they move through their menstrual cycle.

 

Um... Ok. I'm a bit lost in the definition, but after reading the comments of users some seem to be experiencing a more restful night of sleep, and wake up feeling like their brain was supercharged overnight. This intrigues me. I'll try it tonight.

Will you try it too? Let me know your experiences after testing it out in the comments below.

 

 

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