Headphone player
Binaural beats
Pick a preset or dial in a rate. Listen to two tones, one in each ear, and hear the difference between them as a beat.
Beat frequency
Ready
10Hz
Live audio waveform
- Left tone
- 200 Hz
- Right tone
- 210 Hz
Use stereo headphones with mono audio turned off. Start at a comfortable volume.
Band presets
Five starting points
The labels describe brain rhythms and topics studied with binaural beats. Listening effects vary across studies.
What the research says
- Delta
- Delta activity is prominent in deep sleep. In a small lab study, participants spent more time in deep sleep when researchers played 3 Hz binaural beats after they had already fallen asleep. 3 Hz sleep study
- Theta
- Theta activity occurs during drowsiness and some waking tasks. One small study found increased theta activity with 6 Hz binaural beats compared with silence. 6 Hz EEG study
- Alpha
- Alpha activity is prominent during quiet rest with eyes closed. One 10 Hz binaural beat study found no clear increase in alpha activity. Eyes-closed EEG study · 10 Hz beat study
- Beta
- Researchers have tested beta binaural beats on tasks that require people to stay alert over time. Studies report mixed results. Vigilance study · Attention study
- Gamma
- Some 40 Hz binaural beat experiments reported better performance on specific attention or memory tasks. Findings vary with the setup and task. Attention study · Memory study
Each study used a specific listening protocol. A systematic review found inconsistent evidence that binaural beats change EEG activity at the matching frequency. Systematic review of EEG studies
Binaural beats are typically perceived around 1–30 Hz.