Binaural Beats for Meditation

Sound can provide a repeatable focus for meditation. Some auditory techniques have been studied, but evidence for one effect should not be stretched into unrelated health or spiritual claims.

The basic idea

Binaural beats are an auditory percept that can occur when slightly different tones are presented separately to each ear. This is distinct from simply playing one audible tone or a piece of meditation music.

What research can and cannot tell us

Researchers have investigated binaural beats in areas such as attention, cognition, anxiety and sleep-related outcomes. Findings vary by study design and do not establish every claim made for meditation audio online.

Practical listening

For binaural beats, stereo headphones are generally relevant to the underlying listening setup because each ear receives a different signal. For ordinary music, nature sounds or single-frequency tracks, speakers may be perfectly suitable.