Understanding brain waves and sound

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BRAIN WAVES & SOUND

 

The FOUR main BRAIN STATES as measured by EEG...

BETA, ALPHA, THETA and DELTA.

Each frequency has a characteristic blueprint-and produces a distinctive state of consciousness.

BETA waves (14 cycles per-second and above) dominate the normal waking state of consciousness when-attention is directed towards the outside world.

ALPHA waves (8-13 cycles-per second) are present during dreaming and light meditation when the eyes-are closed.

THETA waves (4-7 cycles per second) occur in sleep and are-dominate in the highest state of mediation.

DELTA waves (.5 to 3 cycles per second) are experienced in deep meditation and deep-sleep.

 

 

 

BRAINWAVE

DESCRIPTION

KEY WORDS

 

 

 

BetaAlertnessConcentrationCognition

 

Beta waves range between 13-40 HZ. The Beta state is associated with peak concentration, heightened alertness, hand eye coordination and visual acuity

Peak-concentration

Heightened alertness

Visual acuity

 

 

 

AlphaRelaxationVisualizationCreativity

 

Alpha waves range between 7-12 HZ. This is a place of deep relaxation, but not quite meditation. In Alpha, we begin to access the wealth of creativity that lies just below our conscious awareness - it is the gateway, the entry point that leads into deeper states of consciousness. Alpha is also the home of the window frequency known as the Schuman Resonance - the resonant frequency of the earth's electromagnetic field.

 

Relaxation

Quietly Alert

Introspective

 

 

 

Theta

MeditationIntuitionMemory

 

Theta waves range between 4-7 HZ. Theta is one of the more elusive and extraordinary realms we can explore. It is also known as the twilight state which we normally only experience fleetingly as we rise up out of the depths of delta upon waking, or drifting off to sleep. In Theta, we are in a waking dream, vivid imagery flashes before the mind's eye and we are receptive to information beyond our normal conscious awareness. Theta has also been identified as the gateway to learning and memory.

 

Waking-dream

Vivid imagery

 

 

 

DeltaDetached AwarenessHealingSleep

 

Long, slow, undulating. Delta is the slowest of all four brain wave frequencies. Most commonly associated with deep sleep, certain frequencies in the Delta range also trigger the release of Human Growth Hormone so beneficial for healing and regeneration

Delta waves range between 0-4 HZ.

 

Deep sleep

 

Binaural Beats the Rhythm of Sound and Entrainment:

Another word for rhythm is "periodicity", which means that the activity of something falls into cycles. Soundwaves are examples of periodicity.

Sound is measured in cycles per second (hertz or hz). Each cycle of a wave is in reality a single pulse of sound.

The average range of hearing for the human ear is somewhere between 16 hz. and 20,000 hz. We can not hear extremely low frequencies (ELFs), but we can perceive them as rhythmic.Entrainment is the process of synchronization, where vibrations of one object will cause the vibrations of another object to oscillate at the same rate. External rhythms can have a direct effect on the psychology and physiology of the listener. Slower tempos from 48-70 BPMS have been proven to decrease heart and respiratory rates, thereby altering the predominate brainwave patterns. Baroque music is around 60 beats per minute hence interest in its use for accelerated learning.

When pure, precise audio signals of different frequencies are delivered to the brain through stereo headphones, the two hemispheres of the brain function together to "hear" not the actual external sound signals, but a phantom third signal - a binaural beat.Some researchers claim that brain cells sympathetically resonate and vibrate in response to the binaural beat, in the same way a crystal goblet resonates and vibrates in response to a pure musical tone.

 

 

Research notes

Source: Scientific American (October 1973)"Auditory Beats in the Brain"by Gerald OsterSlow modulations called binaural beats are perceived when tones of different frequency are presented separately to each ear. The sensation may show how certain sounds are processed in the brain.If two tuning forks of slightly different pitch are struck simultaneously, the resulting sound waxes and wanes periodically. The modulations are referred to as beats; their frequency is equal to the difference between the frequencies of the two original tones.Binaural beats have been widely regarded as a mere curiosity. A recent textbook on hearing does not mention them at all. Yet the measurement of binaural beats can explain the processes by which sounds are located --a crucial aspect of perception. It is possible that hormonally induced physiological behavior changes may be made apparent by measuring the binaural-beat spectrum.

 

Source: SCIENCE, VOL. 249 (1989)"The Mind Revealed"by Marcia BarinagaSome neuroscientists think that recently discovered oscillations of electrical potential at 40 hertz hold the key to how the brain assembles sense impressions into a single object.Has Wolf Singer uncovered the cellular basis of consciousness?

Some neuroscientists think he may have, although Singer himself stops short of such a bold claim.It was in his recording that Singer noticed that, for short periods of less than half a second, the field potential was oscillating--alternately rising and dipping--with a frequency of 40 hertz. Those oscillations reflected a synchronous, repeating pattern of current flow into the neurons in the vicinity of the electrode. And since such an ion flow often triggers an action potential, that meant that many of those neurons must be firing action potentials together, in brief phase-locked synchrony."We think of consciousness as occurring in different ways," Crick says. "You can be conscious of pain; you can be self-conscious; you can be conscious of hearing, seeing, even of making plans. Our hypothesis is that all of these may have something in common and therefore why not study the easiest one? We think the easiest one is visual awareness."One of the features that makes the 40 hertz oscillations attractive as a mediator of visual awareness, Koch says, is that their time scale corresponds with that of attention flitting from one object to another. The neurons typically stay phase-locked for several hundred milliseconds, which would allow them to make and break their liaisons in roughly the same period that a person's attention moves from one subject to the next.As different subjects compete for attention, different sets of neurons may set up oscillations, Koch proposes. One wins momentarily, and attention is briefly focused. Then that oscillation fatigues and attention is directed elsewhere. "It's a very beautiful picture," he enthuses. As the experimentalists pursue the oscillations in their biological context, the theorists are cheering from the sidelines. Von der Malsburg, for one, is eagerly awaiting the next round of results. "Wolf Singer and the others are onto something extremely important," he says. "If this experimental-theoretical story materializes even further, it will open the door to a completely new era."Source: HEALTH/SCIENCE, New Mexican April 7, 1995"A New Theory of Consciousness"For scientists who study the human brain, even its simplest act of perception is an event of astonishing intricacy.40 Hz brain activity may be a kind of binding mechanism, said Dr. Rodolfo Llinas a professor of neuroscience at New York University.Llinas believes that the 40-cycle-per-second wave serves to connect structures in the cortex where advanced information processing occurs, and the thalamus, a lower brain region where complex relay and integrative functions are carried out.The Brain Wave Frequencies of Healthby Jean Charles Genet,Director of The National Center for Integrative Medicine and The National Research Center for Chronic FatigueThe ability of the brain to enter and maintain certain frequencies while sleeping may determine the level of health a person experiences.Individuals suffering from the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue (waking up tired, stressed, experiencing symptomatic pain, depression, confused thinking, memory loss, headaches, nervous stomach, or having sleeping disorders, etc.) were solicited by the National Research Center for Chronic Fatigue in Denver, Colorado.Patients were measured by electroencephalographic (EEG) brain wave recordings. It was revealed that certain frequencies could not be maintained. Although, as with any group, the response to one measured frequency is different from one person to the next, the overall response from those tested showed seven frequencies to be consistently weaker.These seven frequencies seemed to be guide posts within the subconscious that lead the brain into and out of specific functions necessary for the nightly reconstructive process of the body to occur while in the sleep cycle. The weakness or inability to reach and maintain these frequencies related directly to the specific symptom or ailment experienced.REDUCTION IN LEVELS OF EXHAUSTIONThose who suffer from Chronic Fatigue exhaust very easily. When moved to 4HZ these individuals showed marked improvement in the length of time between the occurrence of exhaustion after certain exercises were completed.SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMSAt 7.5 HZ subjects who before suffered from confused thinking reported an ease at finding solutions to troublesome problems after a re-evaluation was conducted.LESS EFFECT FROM SYMPTOMSThose individuals whose ailments have manifested into the fourth stage of Chronic Fatigue, where some form of disease is apparent, experienced a release from the negative sensation of their symptoms when moved into 1.5HZ.----------NEW YORK TIMES: SCIENCE SECTION 1989

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