Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal

When two pure tones of slightly different frequencies are delivered simultaneously to the two ears, is generated a beat whose frequency corresponds to the frequency difference between them. That beat is known as acoustic beat. If these two tones are presented one to each ear, they still produce the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: López Caballero, Francisco José, Escera i Micó, Carles
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/118919
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/118919
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Batecs cardíacs
Acústica
Neurofisiologia
Heart beat
Acoustics
Neurophysiology
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spelling Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional ArousalLópez Caballero, Francisco JoséEscera i Micó, CarlesBatecs cardíacsAcústicaNeurofisiologiaHeart beatAcousticsNeurophysiologyWhen two pure tones of slightly different frequencies are delivered simultaneously to the two ears, is generated a beat whose frequency corresponds to the frequency difference between them. That beat is known as acoustic beat. If these two tones are presented one to each ear, they still produce the sensation of the same beat, although no physical combination of the tones occurs outside the auditory system. This phenomenon is called binaural beat. In the present study, we explored the potential contribution of binaural beats to the enhancement of specific electroencephalographic (EEG) bands, as previous studies suggest the potential usefulness of binaural beats as a brainwave entrainment tool. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of binaural-beat stimulation on two psychophysiological measures related to emotional arousal: heart rate and skin conductance. Beats of five different frequencies (4.53 Hz -theta-, 8.97 Hz -alpha-, 17.93 Hz -beta-, 34.49 Hz -gamma-or 57.3 Hz -upper-gamma) were presented binaurally and acoustically for epochs of 3 min (Beat epochs), preceded and followed by pink noise epochs of 90 s (Baseline and Post epochs, respectively). In each of these epochs, we analyzed the EEG spectral power, as well as calculated the heart rate and skin conductance response (SCR). For all the beat frequencies used for stimulation, no significant changes between Baseline and Beat epochs were observed within the corresponding EEG bands, neither with binaural or with acoustic beats. Additional analysis of spectral EEG topographies yielded negative results for the effect of binaural beats in the scalp distribution of EEG spectral power. In the psychophysiological measures, no changes in heart rate and skin conductance were observed for any of the beat frequencies presented. Our results do not support binaural-beat stimulation as a potential tool for the enhancement of EEG oscillatory activity, nor to induce changes in emotional arousal.Frontiers Media2017info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/118919Articles publicats en revistes (Psicologia Clínica i Psicobiologia)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00557Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017, vol. 11, p. 557https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00557cc-by (c) López Caballero, Francisco José et al., 2017http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/1189192026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
title Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
spellingShingle Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
López Caballero, Francisco José
Batecs cardíacs
Acústica
Neurofisiologia
Heart beat
Acoustics
Neurophysiology
title_short Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
title_full Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
title_fullStr Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
title_full_unstemmed Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
title_sort Binaural Beat: A Failure to Enhance EEG Power and Emotional Arousal
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv López Caballero, Francisco José
Escera i Micó, Carles
author López Caballero, Francisco José
author_facet López Caballero, Francisco José
Escera i Micó, Carles
author_role author
author2 Escera i Micó, Carles
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Batecs cardíacs
Acústica
Neurofisiologia
Heart beat
Acoustics
Neurophysiology
topic Batecs cardíacs
Acústica
Neurofisiologia
Heart beat
Acoustics
Neurophysiology
description When two pure tones of slightly different frequencies are delivered simultaneously to the two ears, is generated a beat whose frequency corresponds to the frequency difference between them. That beat is known as acoustic beat. If these two tones are presented one to each ear, they still produce the sensation of the same beat, although no physical combination of the tones occurs outside the auditory system. This phenomenon is called binaural beat. In the present study, we explored the potential contribution of binaural beats to the enhancement of specific electroencephalographic (EEG) bands, as previous studies suggest the potential usefulness of binaural beats as a brainwave entrainment tool. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of binaural-beat stimulation on two psychophysiological measures related to emotional arousal: heart rate and skin conductance. Beats of five different frequencies (4.53 Hz -theta-, 8.97 Hz -alpha-, 17.93 Hz -beta-, 34.49 Hz -gamma-or 57.3 Hz -upper-gamma) were presented binaurally and acoustically for epochs of 3 min (Beat epochs), preceded and followed by pink noise epochs of 90 s (Baseline and Post epochs, respectively). In each of these epochs, we analyzed the EEG spectral power, as well as calculated the heart rate and skin conductance response (SCR). For all the beat frequencies used for stimulation, no significant changes between Baseline and Beat epochs were observed within the corresponding EEG bands, neither with binaural or with acoustic beats. Additional analysis of spectral EEG topographies yielded negative results for the effect of binaural beats in the scalp distribution of EEG spectral power. In the psychophysiological measures, no changes in heart rate and skin conductance were observed for any of the beat frequencies presented. Our results do not support binaural-beat stimulation as a potential tool for the enhancement of EEG oscillatory activity, nor to induce changes in emotional arousal.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/118919
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/118919
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00557
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017, vol. 11, p. 557
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00557
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) López Caballero, Francisco José et al., 2017
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) López Caballero, Francisco José et al., 2017
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Psicologia Clínica i Psicobiologia)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.300724

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