Binaural Beats were the latest experiment in my pursuit of productivity.
The beats date back to 1839 when German researcher Henrick Wilhelm Dove came across it while searching for sound frequencies in the brain.
Most Binaural Beats, however, have mainly been developed in the past decade through high-tech audio technology such as 3-D sounds.
What are Binaural Beats?
Sound is made out of waves,
Frequency is a method of measuring how many of these sound waves pass through a certain point in 1 second. They are measured in hertz (hz).
To put things into context, when my mum shouts at me, it has a frequency of 150hz. The roar from football fans has a frequency of 250hz. Personally, I perceive the former as louder.
Most sounds that pass into our ears are in equilibrium – the frequency entering the left and right ears are the same.
On the contrary, binaural beats produce two varying frequencies to our ears; for example, 110hz is sent to the left and 100hz is sent to the right. The “magic” arises from the 10hz difference between the frequencies.
According to the binaural enthusiasts, the 10hz difference makes your brain compelled to synchronize it, leading to a change in brain state. These brain states can differ from making you more attentive (‘beta waves’ at 13-30hz) or make you sleepy (‘delta waves’ at 0.1-4hz).
The logic behind binaural beats makes sense. Nevertheless, they have not been proven scientifically. There are few research reports with a small number of participants (15-20) who claim that listening to the beats weekly results in better sleep – yet nothing has been tried on a larger scale.
My experience
I tried Biannual Beats while writing for a client on a Wednesday afternoon. 400 beats (audio tracks) were purchased from a user on Reddit for 10$. These tracks were a mix between increasing productivity and inducing sleep. The instructions were simple;
“Turn on the music, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Listen for 5 minutes and start working.”
With a bit of apprehension and tinge of doubt, I put on my headphones and followed the instructions.
The results were surprising.
Work which takes me 2 hours, took me 1 ½ hour – a 25% decrease. I was pleasantly surprised.
Alas, after listening to the beats a few more times in the subsequent days, the 2-hour task ended up taking around 1 hour 50 minutes. There was still an 8% decrease, but I believe that it occurred mainly through wearing noise-cancelling headphone which zoned me into the event.
Although I cannot rule out binaural beats as a pure placebo, it certainly does not boost my productivity that much.
Nevertheless, the beats showed me that if I truly put the focus on the 2-hour work, I can do it in 1 and ½ hours or less. In such a way it showed me the power we have over our minds and how easy it is to break barriers.
So, conquering the mind – is that the greatest productivity hack of all?