Do you need headphones for binaural beats?

Due to our busy lives, we don’t always have enough time to do our yoga routine and meditate.

Eventually, stress starts building up, keeping focus and completing daily tasks become more challenging, and our overall health suffers.

Whenever you don’t have time to work out, try listening to fantastic binaural beats.

What are binaural beats?

Firstly, I should explain what these beats are and the potential benefits of daily listening.

These beats have two different frequencies, which are both lower than a thousand Hz.

The difference between these frequencies should be around thirty Hz.

You can think of these beats as auditory illusions. Whenever you are listening to them, your brain will not register them as separate tones, but listen only to their difference in frequencies.

Frequency patterns

Delta frequencies

These frequencies are the lowest, starting at 0.5 and going up to four Hz.

If you are having trouble with falling asleep, listening to these tunes might help you.

I have tried out these beats and they certainly helped me.

During the night, I spent more time in a deeper sleep and woke up feeling rested and ready to take on a day.

People dealing with insomnia could benefit from these delta frequencies the most.

You will get the help needed to enter the phase of deep sleep and won’t be as easily woken up by outside noise.

Theta pattern

If you are looking for a way to boost your creativity or improve focus, listen to theta frequencies.

These go up to seven Hz and are great to listen to when completing a task.

Whenever my mind is filled with random thoughts and pulling me away from my assignment, I would just turn on these beats to concentrate.

Also, they might be helpful if you need to come up with an innovative solution to the problem.

Alpha pattern

After a day in the office, you can’t wait to come home and relax.

Even when you are laying on a couch, thoughts can’t be easily shut down.

The frequencies from the alpha pattern, up to thirteen Hz, will put your mind at ease and help you relax.

I listen to these to calm down after a very stressful and busy day. In a few minutes, my mood is positively changed!

Beta pattern

With these frequencies, you should be more careful.

If you are having trouble concentrating on a task, the beta pattern will help you, but there might be a few downsides as well.

Listening to this tune is calming at first and shifting your focus to the task that needs to be completed.

However, if you are listening to them for a longer time, you might feel your anxiety slowly increasing as well.

To avoid this, listen to the beats closer to thirteen than thirty Hz.

Gamma pattern

This is the pattern with the highest frequencies, going up to fifty Hz.

If you want to improve your focus further, the gamma pattern is a great solution!

Your entire body will be kept awake and focused on finishing the task!

Health benefits of binaural beats

For professional musicians, binaural beats are used for tuning instruments.

However, these tunes have a few health benefits as well!

Whenever I meditate, I can feel the anxiety, stress and negative energy leaving my body.

By listening to these beats, I can do the same!

Your brain will create the same pattern when you are listening to binaural beats and meditating, thus the same results will be achieved.

Binaural beats are great for filtrating thoughts, concentrating, relaxing, boosting creativity, reducing stress or anxiety level and managing pain.

After a day of work, I can instantly relax, stimulate positive thoughts and end my day in a great mood.

Also, if you are having trouble falling asleep, these tunes will ease your mind and help you fall asleep. Say goodbye to insomnia and waking up feeling unrested and cranky!

Are headphones necessary?

Over time, I have tried different methods for reducing stress levels and dealing with anxiety.

Daily workouts, meditation and balanced meals helped, but once I started listening to binaural beats I finally saw the difference and started feeling better.

At first, I just played the tunes whenever I wanted but didn’t feel any difference.

Only when I wore headphones, I felt my anxiety and stress level coming down.

This is mostly related to the frequency of the beats and how the brain receives them.

When you are listening to binaural tones, your brain should only register the difference in frequencies, and receive it as one sound.

Your brain will synchronize with this difference and creates the same waves as when meditating.

Consequently, your body will start relaxing, stress is reduced and focus is improved.

If you are listening to these beats only through the speakers, you won’t get the wanted results.

These frequencies won’t be directed to each ear separately and the brain will not synchronize with the tones.

Binaural beats are generally calm sounds and listening to them without headphones is pleasant, however, you won’t feel any significant difference.

Once you turn off the music, your stress, anxiety and discomfort will come back.

With the headphones, the brain is receiving tones separately, starts synchronizing with them and producing its frequency for calming down. 

So, if you want to explore the benefits of this sound wave therapy, you will need a set of earphones!

Which earphones are the best for binaural beats?

So, you are probably wondering whether any headphones you own will work, or should you invest money in another set.

I have tried multiple headphones because I wanted to test which are the best.

Firstly, the headphones should be comfortable. That means that they aren’t falling off or producing any type of heat.

If you are using earphones, they should fit perfectly, without causing any discomfort.

You will be using them when you are lying or sitting, and they should be ergonomic.

That is why stereo headphones are recommended over classical earphones.

When we are talking about comfort, wireless headphones are always a better choice.

With my wireless headphones, I can listen to the tones and sleep soundly, without worrying about accidentally ripping the cables.

Most wireless headphones do require weekly charging, but I still prefer them over messing with tangled cables and possibly having to buy new ones if the cable dies.

Secondly, the headphones should cover your entire ear.

Both headphones and earphones will do the job, but stereo headphones are slightly better at blocking outside noise.

When you are listening to binaural beats, everything else should be blocked out and your only focus is on tunes and breathing.

If the noise is mixing with the binaural beats, you won’t hear the tones properly and focus on them.

These headphones are usually have padded with foam or other similar materials that are easily blocking outside tones and allowing you to focus on the music you are listening to.

Finally, the most important feature of the headphones is the reproduction of frequencies.

Keep in mind that you will be listening to quite low frequencies and low-quality headphones might not produce the tones properly.

The original track should not be modified by the headphones and frequency response should be flat.

What to do while listening?

I usually meditate while listening to binaural beats because they help me relax and remove random thoughts.

One of the most important things to do is to block out everything during the sound wave therapy.

Move your phone to a different room, turn the sound off or turn on the airplane mode.

Messages, phone calls, emails and other notifications can wait an hour!

If you are meditating like I am, listen to a track while sitting in a lotus position.

For anyone that does not want to meditate, find a spot in a room that is comfortable. It should be a bright spot, so you don’t accidentally fall asleep.

A room should be silent and with minimum distractions – for example, I can’t meditate on a terrace because traffic is too loud.

Also, I feel like I don’t have privacy when I’m on the terrace and my bedroom is where I feel most comfortable meditating.

Before starting the session, check whether you are hungry or need to go to the bathroom – if you can hear your stomach, you won’t be focused on the tunes and may even stop the session.

 Where to find binaural beats?

These healing tones can be found on many platforms online.

Soundtracks can be a few minutes long or a few hours.

For a daily session, I would recommend the shorter tracks, not longer than one hour.

If you want to listen to the beats throughout the night, you can find numerous playlists that are up to ten hours long.

Final Words

A lot of people are struggling with meditation, but with the help of binaural beats, you can easily learn it.

After just a few sessions you will feel stress level reducing, improve your focus and feel upbeat.

Turn off your computer, grab a set of headphones and give it a try now!