brainwave entrainment

The idea behind brain wave entrainment is that certain brain wave states can be induced by external stimuli, viz. by a series of tones and blinking lights. Why one might desire such a feat is that certain states of the brain are associated with certain brain waves (as measured by EEG or electroencephalography, "electro-brain-writing"). For example delta waves (1-4 Hz) are associated with deep sleep, alpha waves (7-12 Hz) with relaxed, meditative states. The latter are obviously something that would be nice to have access to whenever, thus 'mind machines' come into play.


Here's a virtual one, the MetaMindMachine. Download it, unzip it and run it. On my computer it begins with some annoying pops, but it settles into tones after a bit. It's way too early for me to say if it's producing it's desired effect or not (I've tried to make my own in the past but to no avail), but it's definitely fun and experimenting with it seems very worthwhile.

Here's an interesting and related-to-music-peripherally point: brain waves can be induced by tones in the ears that are of different frequencies. For example, if alpha waves are desired (say a 10 Hz wave) then in one ear a pitch of 440 Hz is sounded while in the other ear a pitch of 450 Hz or 430 Hz is sounded. The difference in pitch is the wavelength produced in the brain (in this case 10 Hz).

Oh, this is an open-source program, so if you're able and inclined you can customize it, improve it, etc (I'm not among that flock).