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The Facilitation of Attention
Utilizing Therapeutic Sounds
by George Guilfoyle, Ph.D., and Dominic Carbone, Ph.D.
If the individual listens to a tone with the frequency of
440 Hz in one ear and another tone of 444 Hz in the other ear, a binaural
beat of 4 Hz will be produced. This electrical signal occurs with relatively
equal frequency and strength in both hemispheres of the brain and creates
a synchronization of the two sides of the brain. Because of this synchronization,
Robert Monroe's (Hemi-Sync Inventor)
has called this effect Hemi-Sync®.
Research investigations of brain activity patterns demonstrate
that particular states of consciousness are associated with some of
these patterns.
Brain Wave Patterns
- The delta pattern (0.5 to 4 Hz) is associated with sleep
- The theta pattern (4 to 8 Hz) with deep states of meditation
- The alpha pattern (8 to 12 Hz) with relaxation,
- The beta pattern (12 to 30 Hz) with concentration.
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What Hemi-Sync® is apparently able to do is to create
the possibility of attaining any one of these states of consciousness
by varying the frequencies of the pure tones delivered to each ear,
as well as by varying the differences between the two frequencies.
Delivering the relevant frequencies to the listener's ears, however,
is only one factor in attaining a particular state of consciousness. The
listener must be cooperative and in a receptive state of mind in order
for the signals to work. In other words, it is not automatic. One can
reject the effect if one so chooses.
Research with this technology is promising. Edrington (1984) used Hemi-Sync
"cognitive learning enhancement tapes" with college students
taking an Introductory Psychology course (Tacoma Community College, spring
1981). There were two sections taking the same course. One listened to
Hemi-Sync during class, the other did not. Six tests were administered
during the semester. In all but the first test, the students listening
to the Hemi-Sync tapes scored, on the average, approximately ten points
higher on each of the tests. The likelihood that these differences were
the result of chance factors was no more than two times in a hundred.
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