Different Kinds of Beats for Brain Stim

OK so I'm still learning here and will likely update this (and move it forward in date when I do) to better info as I learn more.

There are three primary TONE TYPES in audio (sonic) neuro tech / brain wave stuff:

1. Isochronic tones
2. Monaural tones
3. Binaural tones

Here's a few notes. I wanted to use the nifty brainwave spectrum or sine charts that transparentcorp had but I didn't want to steal them. Even though a google search indicates about 500 other websites have done exactly that.

Please, dive out to actual frequency charts of these for better example:
Isochronic; Modified Isochronic (volume filter); Monaural; Binaural

So in simple-speak, it's a matter of hammer-impact. The greater the valley between top of waveform, middle and bottom of waveform in the sine wave cycle, the more 'impact' it has on the brain.

You can change the 'shape' of the waveform. The smoother the cycle, the nicer it is to listen to. You can smooth or modify the waveform of isochronic tones by changing various aspects of them (such as varying-volume-per-beat as one example) which the various programs I've mentioned will help you do. That is sometimes called a 'filter' so a volume filter would be 'one' filter; if you applied a different effect as well you'd have two filters; and so on.

You can also change pitch. Understand the difference here, the waveform is the "beat pattern" which has nothing to do with the "pitch" -- you could do the same beat pattern in a high A or middle C or a 3-octave-spanning combination of many notes for a C-minor-7th chord. Think of a drum; it may have a low sound or high sound depending on the drum, even if you are pounding it at the same beat.

You can also add and change noise. Such as white noise, surf sounds, the type of stuff you hear in relaxation tapes or 'ambient alarms' and so on. You can place pulses within that kind of thing. This is called 'noise' or 'background' or both (depending on how it is used) in this tech. Background can also be music or other 'sounds'.

And of course you can change the video ('photic' is video, vs 'sonic' for audio). Just like with the audio wave forms, the more abrupt and 'largest differential' beat pulses have the most effect on the brain.

This is affected, obviously, by the intensity of the light! -- so high-output LED lights in your goggles might have more impact than the regular sort even with the same braintech program playing.

Details like varying waveforms in light intensity, color, etc. still need a lot of research. Actually EVERYTHING still needs a lot of research.

Most of this is up to ongoing experimentation for each person.

OK now on to the "separate hemisphere" stuff.

Binaural was my more modern intro to the mostly 'entertainment' aspect of brainwave entrainment. The idea here is that a pulse in left ear (right-brain) and right ear (left-brain) at the same time causes the center of the brain to create the "difference". However what this means is that you are not actually affecting the separate hemispheres as you choose; rather, you are using both hemispheres to create a single effect in the middle.

You can also aim a given frequency at a specific hemisphere (rather than their combination), which is somewhat different. I need to learn more about this and will post on it when I do. (Some diff between isochronic/binaural here. Need more input! Give me time, I just got my first book in the mail today about it ("Getting Started with Neurofeedback" by John Demos).)

The effect of combining numbers is almost absurd. The brain essentially combines and subtracts EVERYTHING because frankly it's like going into a drum and glass shop: you pound on this, you ding on that, and everything you touch sets off resonance in everything else, harmonics, etc.

You have what you put in; and what is created by what you put in. This is exponential. Now remember the point about the waveform 'extremity' -- the more specific, sharp, stronger hammer-beat having the most effect.

Consider that every new waveform you create, is adding to that overall sine wave. It takes very little until that sine wave looks more like a tapestry with a few slightly loose threads; so by nature the more waves you have at varying levels, the more the overall sine smooths itself out greatly.

ONE beat is like I showed above; make it TWO beats and now you have:
1, 2, 2+1, 1+2, 2-1, 1-2.
But the effects of what it creates interact also, so you have:
1+3, 3+1, 1-3, 3-1, 2+3, 3+2, 2-3, 3-2.
Again, you have not only what you input, but what is created in the brain by that input, and all of these things interact together.

So in the above example, there are other numbers created (frequency wave forms) besides 1, 2, and 3; there is also:
-1, 4, -2, 5,
plus there are multiple iterations of all the various numbers depending on what adds/subtracts to what out of all that mess.

And following on those, even if they are at 'lesser intensity', you then have yet-further math-effects (harmonics) such as -3, 9, etc.

It starts to make me think of the "All numbers are infinite" line in Liber al vel Legis. (I've had a lot of esoteric realizations around that verse.) (Don't read that book! :-))

It might be for this reason that one seemingly very informed fellow I'm corresponding with emphasized to me, "ONE TONE!" all in capitals, and said he believes nearly everything in the field and presets and especially 'multilayer binaural' are essentially crap for entrainment.

This doesn't mean that it isn't pleasant to listen to.

Some research showed that binaurals nicely relaxed you, they alpha'd the EEG--but then showed that they did so to about the exact extent that 'white noise' surf sound did! (Foster 1990, here). Also, Oster 1973 [Scientific American] showed the 'evoked potential' of binaural was very small compared to other techs. So I had previously mentioned that everyone referred to this without science ref but I've found a variety of science refs.

This reminds me of the research that showed that Transcendental Meditation was good for certain effects as claimed, but the "unique sound given to the trainer by God to give to you" -- er, actually there's only 4 at basic level, one each for men/women of adult/child age, but that is not commonly known (cult secret! damn that was SUCH a cult!) -- could just as well be 'roast beef, roast beef' and get the same effect. (I have no ref for that sorry, it was in some book I read circa 1991 -- after taking TM training and then meeting someone who'd been deeply involved in the cult in Iowa for years, who enlightened me.) The meditation style -- basically a zen no-mind format [compared to say, shamanic active meditation formats], is nice for relaxing, and 'spacing out' (aka 'transcending') and the resulting side effects on daily brainwave states, but frankly just way too passive for me. I'm told what they call the Siddhis (that word has meanings in the east as well), the 'advanced' form of TM, is more specific and proactive).

So to some degree it comes down to how much you really want to affect your brain; how much of the "frequency following response" it is important to you to create; how pleasant you want things to sound; and what you want to accomplish.

You can deal with insomnia, focus, learning, relaxation, meditation, most hypnosis, and things like that in pretty simple alpha-theta ranges which even subtle complex waveforms like the beautiful bineaural stuff is likely capable of getting you into.

I think for more specific effects, exploration, and the higher and lower (Delta, Gamma, etc.) stuff you'd probably need to stick to isochronic and photic stimulation.

PJ

.