KO W H I T I K A U P E K A T E W H E T Ū
TŪHURA E X P L O R E
GOLDEN BINAURAL BEATS
Samantha Brown, of Sacred Heart Girls’ College (Hamilton), was awarded a Gold CREST for her investigation on binaural beats. Binaural auditory beats are what the listener hears when tones at two different frequencies are presented to the left and right ear. The listener hears a single tone, which equals the frequency difference between the two tones. Anecdotal reports suggest that binaural beats can relieve stress and improve sleep by influencing brainwave patterns. In her CREST project, Samantha had students at her school listen to binaural recordings nightly for four weeks. Using electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements to look for changes in brainwaves, she did not observe any evidence of relaxation. CREST is a Royal Society Te Apārangi programme with different levels to encourage students to be innovative, creative and to problem solve in science, technology and environmental studies.
“The results suggest that after 15 minutes of continuous listening to the binaural beat, there is a decrease in alpha power, and this trend does not change with daily exposure. The anecdotal reports which claim binaural beats have an increased alpha power in the brain are not supported by this study.” SAMANTHA BROWN
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