What is brainwave synchronisation?

Brainwave synchronisation or 'entrainment' is one of the key technologies used in NeuroSonica’s advanced neuroacoustic audio. It is a special scientific pulse based technology - ours was perfected using a hospital  EEG machine.

While it is probably the most well known and publicised brain-sound technique, our unique neuroacoustic hybrid technologies offer many additional benefits to those produced by entrainment.

However, the following explains some of the principles and effects of high quality clinical brainwave entrainment when used as a stand alone technology.The benefits of our additional technologies are covered elsewhere throughout this site.

“Within our own bodies, we are constantly locking in our own rhythms. Our heart rate, respiration and brain waves all entrain to each other.”  Johnathon Goldman in ‘Sonic Entrainment’.

Entrainment is a completely natural phenomenon and simply means to vibrate in harmony, synchronise or lock into phase.

It occurs throughout nature, physics and biology. For example, if you strike one tuning fork near another of the same pitch it will cause the un-struck one to vibrate ‘in sympathy’ or entrain to the other. Randomly swinging pendulums of similar lengths begin to swing in unison or entrain after a period of time and even fireflies will entrain by synchronising their signal flashes.

In humans, entrainment or brainwave synchronisation can be induced visually, kinaesthetically or audibly in response to repetitive  external stimuli.

The calming effects of certain music and sounds, or of staring at a flickering fire or waves on the sea occur because they cause your brainwaves to entrain or synchronize to their relaxing rhythm and pulse. There is even a natural tendency for the heart and  breathing rates of  people in close proximity to entrain, the timing of menstrual cycles of women in dormitories and so on.

The synchronisation phenomenon  resulting from the repetivite stimulus of brainwave entrainment is called the Frequency Following Response (FFR).

How it works

 One of the easiest and most effective ways to deliver a synchronisation or entrainment stimulus to the brain is using pulses via the ears. Your ears act like a sort of 'super-highway' to the brain, and of course the brain is highly responsive to certain forms of sound.

During our sessions you will hear some of our specially engineered sounds, frequencies and  pulses embedded within our soundtracks. While some are obvious, many are subtle and may not be audible. As the sessions progress the brain begins to  synchronise or entrain to these pulses by generating its own predominant brainwave patterns at the same frequency or cycles per second as the incoming pulses.

For example, an Alpha brainwave  pulse delivered at between 8-12 Hz (cycles per second) will start to increase your own Alpha brainwave activity and you will feel the resulting relaxation and other benefits of Alpha. The same process occurs for Beta, Delta, Theta, SMR or Gamma brainwaves, depending on the frequency or cycles per second of the incoming pulses.

According to entrainment theory (and increasingly supported by neuroplasticity research) in time this process increases the brains ease and ability to produce these particular brainwave frequencies - even independantly of the stimulus.

For example, it is well known that someone with depression (known as a 'slow wave' condition) is typically lacking in the production of faster, stimulating  brainwaves such as Beta, needed for alertness and concentration. It appears however, that through regular exposure to Beta based entrainment pulses - especially during the day when it should be the predominant  frequency - their brain begins to produce this frequency in greater amounts, helping offset its overproduction of the problematic 'slow waves' like Theta.

Brainwave training therefore is believed to broaden the repertoire of available frequencies, help the brain to switch from one to another more easily  when needed, and generally create more balanced combinations of waveforms for the performance of various tasks.

Other benefits of Entrainment

Brainwave entrainment is wholistic and has many mind-body benefits, as described on the homepage for this site. These include: 

• Brain and mind fitness

As well as increasing flexibility in accessing different brainwave states, the stimulation caused by entrainment actually 'exercises' the brain (and, when combined with our additional technologies, the inner ear). The resulting increased blood flow, neural growth and so on all promote general brain 'fitness'  which in turn  encourages better physical, mental and emotional health, increased intellectual functioning and other benefits. The analogy of taking your brain to a gym is perhaps an apt one as it is akin to  the global benefits produced by physical fitness. 

• Hemispheric Integration/coordination

One of the most widely acknowledged benefits of entrainment is its assistance in integrating the left/right brain hemispheres and the promotion of 'whole brain integration'.

Your left brain hemisphere is logical, linear, practical, analytical and time orientated, while the right is non-logical, non-linear, abstract, creative and wholistic.  It is generally accepted that the more integration and flexibility between them,  the better your overall brain function.

Research has indicated that the brain can become up to 5 times more effective if the left side and the right side are integrated! Entrainment assists in exercising and strengthening the ‘bridge’ - known as the 'corpus collosum’ - between the hemispheres of the brain. It actually becomes physically larger and more capable of transmitting data and feedback.

• Chemical fine tuning of the brain

As your predominant brainwaves are guided into new frequency patterns using NeuroSonica  many beneficial changes occur in your brain's neurochemistry. These biochemical changes in turn affect your thoughts, emotions and physiology.

"Each brain center generates impulses at a specific frequency, based on the predominant neurotransmitters it secretes… In other words, the brain's internal communications system - its language, if you like - is based on frequency". Dr Margaret Capel.

Research indicates that certain brainwave frequencies can dramatically boost the production of a variety of these neurotransmitters or chemical messengers.  For example it has even been suggested that inducing a strong 10-hertz (alpha) signal within the brain can lead to an increase in the production and turnover rate of serotonin comparable to the use of Prozac.This is perhaps not so surprising given that many medications are known to alter brainwaves. For example as observed by  Eric R. Braverman, M.D.  “Antianxiety medicines also widen out consciousness by decreasing delta and theta and increasing alpha and beta”. Using a brain technology like NeuroSonica of course has the advantage of being non-invasive and drug-free.

Many very important and beneficial neurochemicals are now thought to be responsive to brainwave frequency stimulation including; Serotonin, Acetylcholine, Catecholamines, DHEA, Vasopressin, Melatonin,  Dopamine, and Human Growth Hormone. Please see our references for more information (Home / For Practitioners / Further reading) .