Other Brainwave Entrainment methods

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Other Brainwave Entrainment methods

Mind Machines are a great way to relax but there are a lot of other ways to train the brain.

Besides auditory beats/pulses coupled with strobe lights, there are several different approaches to brainwave entrainment: only audio stimulation, magnetic, electric, haptic and biofeedback. Modern technology has allowed us to use all of these different stimulation devices.

Firstly, let us get into the specifics of audio stimulation which can utilize three types of sounds: isochronic tones, binaural beats, and monaural beats.

Monaural Beats

Monaural brainwave entrainment is a single pulsing beat.

It would sound like a ‘click’ or pulse in the music. You can generate it by converging two tones that come from a single speaker.

While monaural beats are considered to be more effective than binaural beats, they don’t sound quite right when embedded in music and can prove jarring to the ear.

And the only way to really listen to them is without headphones

Binaural Beats

When we hear a sound, we locate the direction it is coming from by detecting the minute tone differences between each of our ears.  Our brainwaves begin to pulse (phase resonance) at the difference between the tones, and using this ‘phase difference’ we detect the direction of the sound.

Binaural beats ‘trick’ this direction-finding system by playing a different tone in each ear.

Let’s use an example: if we play a 300Hz tone for one ear, and a 312Hz played for the other, your brainwaves will begin to resonate at the difference between the tones (12Hz, below-normal hearing range).

While not quite as effective as monaural beats, binaurals aren’t as noticeable to the ear and improve the listening experience.

The only way to take advantage of the effect is through headphones. Binaural beats played through loudspeakers become monaural beats.

Isochronic Beats

Isochronic tones are regular beats of a single tone embedded into a narrow audio bandwidth of the music itself. One frequency band of the music oscillates, leaving the rest of the music untouched.

People often use them in combination with monaural and binaural beats.

Researchers consider isochronic tones to be the most effective form of audio entrainment. Due to their nature, they also make for the most pleasant listening experience. If done well, the tones are not noticeable to the ear.

Using any type of Sound Entrainment mentioned above and light modulation, dubbed audio-visual entrainment (AVE), is far more powerful and much faster acting than audio beats alone. It can elicit a brain response in seconds. We’ve already discussed strobe light devices that use light and sound modulation technologies in this article.

Electromagnetic Entrainment

Brainwaves themselves are electromagnetic in nature.
Electromagnetic Brainwave entrainment methods such as TENS (transcutaneous electro-neural stimulation) or CES (cranial electrical stimulation) use small pulsing electromagnetic fields to directly interact with the neurons. There’s also rTMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), which is similar to CES, but it stimulates the brain using magnetic pulses rather than electric currents.

CES (Cranial Electrical Stimulation) is operated by passing electricity through the brain via scalp electrodes. Researchers use small alternating currents at brainwave frequencies to elicit the best response. As such, the frequencies are relatively low.

TENS (Transcutaneous Electro-Neural Stimulation) occurs when electricity is sent via electrodes to the skin. This technology is a prevalent method of pain management.

In a few individuals, CES and TENS have been scientifically proven to be effective therapies for chronic pain. Though they reported that both methods feel odd when used.

However, certain trials and studies suggest that CES is beneficial in the treatment of addiction and other mental conditions. All other assertions are, at best, anecdotal.

Electromagnetic entrainment is region-specific, meaning that you can train brainwave frequencies in a certain spot (rather than having to train globally over the entire cortex as with sound and/or light entrainment).

EEG active entrainment

Is sound and/or light entrainment which changes according to what is happening in the brain at any given moment. The EEG brainwave sensors monitor your brain activity in real-time and alter the entrainment to suit you.

Even though the equipment is similar, EEG active entrainment is not the same as neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback encourages you to change your brain’s activity yourself rather than ‘pushing’ it there with brainwave entrainment.

Learn more about Brainwaves Entrainment

Continue reading about Brainwave Entrainment (BWE) and their modulation methods – right here, on InfiniteONE

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