Binaural beats facts for kids

A binaural beat is a special sound trick your brain plays! It happens when you hear two slightly different sounds, one in each ear. Your brain then creates the feeling of a third, new sound that isn't really there.

For example, imagine you hear a sound at 530 Hz (a measure of how high or low a sound is) in your right ear. At the same time, you hear a sound at 520 Hz in your left ear. Your brain mixes these two. It then makes you "hear" a third sound that seems to vibrate at 10 Hz. This 10 Hz is the difference between the two original sounds (530 minus 520). That "extra" sound is the binaural beat.

Some people use binaural beats to help them sleep better or to relax. You can find apps and computer programs that create these special sounds.

How Binaural Beats Were Found

Binaural beats were first discovered a long time ago by a scientist named Heinrich Wilhelm Dove. He found them in 1839. He wrote about what he learned in a science magazine.

For many years, binaural beats were just a cool science fact. Then, in 1973, another scientist named Gerald Oster wrote an important article. He showed how binaural beats could be useful for studying the brain.

Scientists are still learning how binaural beats work. They are also studying how our brains figure out where sounds come from. This includes how we can focus on one voice in a noisy room, like at a party.

Images for kids

• 

  The sum (blue) of two sound waves (red, green) is shown as one of the waves changes. This shows how sounds can combine.

See also

In Spanish: Pulsos binaurales para niños