From what I understand, later controlled studies do not seem to back the claim that specific frequency differences lead the brain to an alpha state, or theta state etc. as claimed. But there may be potential in reducing anxiety:
R Padmanabhan 1, A J Hildreth, D Laws. "A prospective, randomised, controlled study examining binaural beat audio and pre-operative anxiety in patients undergoing general anaesthesia for day case surgery", Anaesthesia, 2005.
Sure. Thinking that frequencies picked up by your ears has any sort of 1:1 correspondence or influence with the irrelevant overall firing frequency distribution of your brain is like thinking that adjusting the speed of your washing machine to an integer harmonic of 440hz helps keep your piano in tune.
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can anyone comment on binaural beats and the claim that they can be used to manipulate brain activity- such as promoting focus or relaxation?
This is the old scientific American article (from 1973) from where a lot of the claims originate, to my knowledge:
Gerald Oster, "Auditory beats in the brain", Scientific American, 229 (4): pages 94-102, October 1973.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/auditory-beats-in...
From what I understand, later controlled studies do not seem to back the claim that specific frequency differences lead the brain to an alpha state, or theta state etc. as claimed. But there may be potential in reducing anxiety:
R Padmanabhan 1, A J Hildreth, D Laws. "A prospective, randomised, controlled study examining binaural beat audio and pre-operative anxiety in patients undergoing general anaesthesia for day case surgery", Anaesthesia, 2005.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16115248/
Sure. Thinking that frequencies picked up by your ears has any sort of 1:1 correspondence or influence with the irrelevant overall firing frequency distribution of your brain is like thinking that adjusting the speed of your washing machine to an integer harmonic of 440hz helps keep your piano in tune.