Daily binaural beat listening for 60 days: a pilot study (Wahbeh 2007)
Four of 33 measures changed significantly: trait anxiety decreased (p=0.004), quality of life increased (p=0.03), and IGF-1 (p=0.01) and urinary dopamine (p=0.02) decreased. With 8 participants and no control group, the findings cannot be generalized.
The question: What psychological and physiological changes follow 60 days of daily listening to a commercial delta binaural-beat recording?
| Type of study | Pilot study |
|---|---|
| Who took part | 8 healthy adults aged 28–68 (7 women, 1 man) |
| What was done | A commercial CD (Holosync) whose beats start at 10 Hz and descend to 2.5 Hz delta over 40 minutes, under rain and bell sounds, listened to with eyes closed. Listening was 30 minutes a day for 14 days, then 60 minutes a day for 46 days. |
| How much weight it carries | Preliminary |
What it found
- Four of 33 measures changed significantly from before to after.
- Trait anxiety decreased (p=0.004) and quality of life increased (p=0.03).
- IGF-1 (p=0.01) and urinary dopamine (p=0.02) decreased.
- State anxiety, total mood, melatonin and catecholamines did not change significantly.
- The fall in IGF-1 contradicts the recording producer's marketing statement that the technology raises growth hormone.
Limits
- Tiny (n=8), uncontrolled, unblinded and single-arm: the beats cannot be separated from relaxation, expectation or simply an hour of quiet each day.
- Four significant results out of 33 measures is barely above chance (12% vs 5% expected), with no correction for multiple comparisons.
- The authors frame the study as hypothesis-generating, and the findings cannot be generalized.
Where this sits
More in the library on anxiety and stress. For the wider picture, read Binaural beats for anxiety.
This is our plain-language reading of the paper. It is not medical advice, and one study rarely settles a question.
Sources
- Wahbeh, H., Calabrese, C., & Zwickey, H. (2007). Binaural beat technology in humans: A pilot study to assess psychologic and physiologic effects. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(1), 25–32.