Comparative analysis of the effect of the stimulation with binaural beat and similar kinds of sound on falling asleep process: a brief note
Beats are the physical phenomenon appearing when two oscillation processes of close frequencies are superimposed. In acoustics, there is also the term “binaural beats” - a subjective feeling of the listener when acoustic tones of slightly different frequency are applied separately to each ear. Commercial products based on the effect of binaural beats enjoy steady popularity in the market of the modern technological tools for psycho- and physiotherapy. In particular, they are applied to improve sleep. But it is the objective evaluation of physiologic effect of binaural beats on sleep onset process that has very little evidence to support. The paper provides comparative analysis of the time to fall asleep determined by the onset of 2<sup>nd</sup> sleep stage (sleep spindle appearance). The subjects listened to monotonous sound of three similar kinds including the combination of binaural beats with pink noise; the similar sound with the combination of monaural beats; the similar sound without any beat. The stimulation by the combination of binaural beats is shown to produce the least sleep onset time compared to similar sound containing monaural beats as well as to similar beatless sound. Further investigation is required to get results that are more consistent.