Does anyone else find binaural beats actually freaking psychoactive? (lemmy.world)

submitted 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I swear, there's a delta wave 2HZ,3HZ one thats basically aural Valium 💉 As long as its a good speaker

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[-] tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz 3 points 18 minutes ago* (last edited 16 minutes ago)

I typically listen to these after taking my morning LSD, and do get some psychoactive effects. Strangely the effects are completely different if I take amphetamines or light up the afternoon crack pipe before listening.

Seriously tho, I just started to listen to this for the first time ever, and it does work as a pretty effective and non-intrusive noise blocker. Easy to ignore.

Edit: never mind the second point, the surroundings just got quieter at the same time I started to listen.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 9 minutes ago* (last edited 9 minutes ago)

morning LSD

I like you Already

[-] De_Narm@lemmy.world 28 points 13 hours ago

Just looking on youtube, you can find binaural beats for pretty much anything: inflammation cure, pain relief, changing your eye colour, finding love and becoming rich. All the ones I've looked at feature comments from people claiming they've helped them.

They can't possibly do all of the above and I don't think there a studies proving anything but a placebo effect.

And, without truly believing in them, they never had any effect on me. I've tried them in my youth.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

I wouldn't say I "believed" but I tried it with an open mind expecting SOMETHING to happen. I borrowed some expensive headphones from the audio production department at school, got relaxed in my bed with a couple candles going, plugged into my nice DAC and.....all I got was bored. I went through like 10 different tracks. Quite the disappointing experience.

[-] bizarroland@fedia.io 2 points 10 hours ago

What might be more useful would be to put it on in the background while you're falling asleep if you're in a situation where you can have noise while you're going to sleep

[-] compostgoblin@slrpnk.net 5 points 12 hours ago

They’re good background music while studying, but not for any magical reason. Some just sound nice

[-] bizarroland@fedia.io 7 points 12 hours ago

My opinion is they are placebo but placebo actually can have effects because you believe they have effects.

I think about it, if you've been listening to binaural beats in order to find love don't you think that you're going to be more likely to find love and therefore you're going to be looking for opportunities to validate your beliefs?

If you are listening to binaural beats to lose weight don't you think that there's a chance that you will intentionally and willfully act in ways that will increase the likelihood that you will lose weight?

And the best part about placebo is even if you know it's a placebo effect it does not prevent it from actually working because humans are cool and weird and funny like that.

[-] rikudou@lemmings.world 1 points 27 minutes ago

Placebo doesn't work on me if I'm aware it's placebo. Which sucks. One day I got a headache, took a pill and miraculously, within two minutes the headache stopped. Then I was like "wait, it can't work that fast, it has to go through your stomach and whatnot". Headache returned and the pill never worked as fast ever since.

[-] compostgoblin@slrpnk.net 4 points 11 hours ago

I think you’re totally on point! I think that’s similar with other religious or spiritual practices, like specific meditations, spells, or rituals - you’re priming yourself to be more aware of opportunities to achieve that goal

[-] Mechaguana@programming.dev 2 points 11 hours ago

I feel like as a staunch atheist that does his own research to be missing out on alot of placebo effects

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 13 hours ago

Studies are currently inconclusive on the efficacy of Binaural Beats. According to this meta analysis, five corroborate BB, and eight do not.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286023

So it's still woo until studies consistently fail to disprove that BB does anything.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Anecdotally, I believe they can induce relaxation or stimulation via entrainment. Like if you listen to something low and soft, I think that relaxes you and something high-pitched and loud stimulates

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 10 hours ago

Right, but that's exactly it. It's still only just anecdotes and subjective claims. It might be that it's indeed a valid form of treatment, but the evidence we have doesn't seem to point to that as a rational conclusion.

Whatever you personally experience might in fact be a placebo effect or confirmation bias.

[-] LargeMarge@sh.itjust.works 9 points 12 hours ago

What speakers do you have that actually produce sound waves that low? Most subwoofers only go down to 20hz since thats about the lowest frequencies humans can hear. Maybe 15hz for a surround sound system so that sound effects can shake the floor when you're watching a movie or something. But 2hz is crazy.

I've tried listening to them but never really experienced much, but then again I didn't know what they were supposed to do so maybe the placebo didn't have a chance to work.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago

I think the trick is that they use the differential in two higher pitched waves and your brain creates the lower pitch rather than the speaker.

Like it oscillates both 400HZ and 402HZ and your brain creates that 2HZ delta or something

[-] LargeMarge@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 hours ago

Ah okay, that makes more sense. Thanks for explaining.

I've played in orchestras for most of my life, so I'm sure I've been inadvertently exposed to some binaural beats when the people around me can't play in tune. I can't say it made me feel particularly good, but it certainly had an effect on me in hindsight.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

If you have iphone i can recommene a sample app to try out and if you want share your input about using

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 6 points 13 hours ago

interesting, give me some of the good ones.

I want to try it out, I don't even know what it is really.

[-] paysrenttobirds@sh.itjust.works 4 points 12 hours ago

I've used this giorgio regni app on Android for years with various random earbuds.

The only option on its menu that reliably does anything for me is called "morphine pain killer", but it was a game changer for me for incapacitating sea sickness (believe me I had tried so many things I don't think I had any placebo potential left). On land, I've found it effective for post surgery pain, nerve pain, and even the odd depressive crying jag. I guess at this point I'm a believer so I'd be curious to know what effect it has on a "fresh" patient. I don't think I've tried it just for kicks, though, so not sure what you'll notice if you're already feeling ok.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

okay, thanks.

that's very interesting.

i am going through a sober, healthy jag right now and feel pretty good, but i have saved this comment and will give this a try when I'm not feeling so great.

[-] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 hours ago

The f-Droid link if you want it to be a bit more privacy friendly.

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.axet.binauralbeats/

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Do you have iPhone?

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

Android

[-] technomad@slrpnk.net 2 points 10 hours ago

Has anyone tried these in combination with bone conduction headphones?

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Similarly, I have found it quite sensual to put the speaker on the back of my neck/spine

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago

I find them fascinating, but have never found they have such a dramatic effect. Though I tried the Gateway Experience tapes for awhile and definitely slept better when I used them, despite a decided lack of astral travel or whatever.

[-] m_f@midwest.social 4 points 13 hours ago

Maybe a good speaker helps. I've tried them before and they're good background noise for flights, but that's about all I've gotten out of them.

this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024

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