You’ve used binaural beats on yourself and seemed to notice some positive effects. You’re less stressed, much more creative, and able to sleep better at night. And then your dog waltzes into the room and you begin to wonder: Would binaural beats work on him?
So, do binaural beats work on animals? Only considering the science behind binaural beats, the answer is yes. They can help to change the brainwaves in species other than humans. But, since binaural beats require headphones and there’s not too much of a need to use binaural beats on animals, they won’t be all that effective.
We know that binaural beats can work in humans. Now, we’re going to go over why exactly they work on humans and then delve into how that can translate to our other friends in the animal kingdom.
Why Binaural Beats Work on Humans
Binaural beats are pretty easy to use. You find a decent track on YouTube, hook up your favorite pair of stereo headphones, and lie back and relax as the track plays. So, you know how to use them, but do you know how they actually work?
First, we’re going to go over how binaural beats affect the functioning of the brain and target certain brainwaves. Then we’ll spend a little time discussing how altering the brainwaves can be useful when it comes to certain health conditions!
Impact on Brainwaves
When you listen to binaural beats, you’re choosing a track that’s in a specific frequency range, which is basically the pitch of the sound. What’s really cool is that the waves in the brain are also measured in frequencies.
So, that means listening to binaural beats in the “alpha” frequency range actually triggers the activation of alpha waves in the brain.
Each type of brainwave is connected to certain functions and activities within the body. That means:
- Listening to beta frequencies can encourage creativity and motivation
- Listening to alpha frequencies can help with relaxation and meditation
- Listening to theta frequencies can cause deep relaxation and even sleep
- Listening to delta frequencies can result in deep sleep and dreaming
That means you can definitely customize your binaural beats session in order to get the effects that you’re looking for. For example, it would be a good idea to listen to beta waves when you’re studying for a test!
As a Treatment for Health Conditions
Binaural beats are great when it comes to targeting the brain and how it functions. They’re most often used to reduce stress and anxiety, but they also have plenty of other effects.
Take a look at some effects you might experience as a result of listening to binaural beats.
- Less stress and anxiety
- Greater relaxation
- Release of specific hormones or neurotransmitters (i.e., serotonin, DMT, testosterone, estrogen, HGH, etc.)
- Lower heart rate
- Greater ability to sleep (less intense insomnia)
After taking a look at those possible effects, it’s quite obvious why plenty of people have begun turning to binaural beats to improve their health.
So, What About Binaural Beats & Animals?
Humans aren’t the only species with active brainwaves. That means your cat, dog, bird, guinea pig, or any of your other pets have active brainwaves as well! With that logic, wouldn’t binaural beats work on your pets too?
Well, it’s a little complicated. Technically, binaural beats can alter the brainwaves of your pets! But, binaural beats are only effective when they’re listened to with stereo headphones. Plus, there’s not really too much of a need for your pets to listen to binaural beats anyway.
The Need for Headphones
Though anyone can technically open a binaural beats track on YouTube and hit play, it doesn’t mean they’ll still get the effects of that specific track. That’s because you need to be wearing the right set of headphones.
For binaural beats, the “right” set of headphones are stereo headphones.
Why?
Well, let’s think about how binaural beats actually work. The tracks are designed to play two different sounds: One in each ear. When your brain hears those two different sounds, your brain actually hears a third sound.
That third sound is known as the binaural beat.
Now, listening to binaural beats with a regular set of headphones will just play both sounds at the same time in both ears. Since each ear is hearing the same exact thing, there’s no “third” sound or binaural beat.
Stereo headphones play the track as it was intended to be played, with two separate sounds (one in each ear).
Here’s why binaural beats aren’t all that effective in animals.
- You probably can’t get a pair of headphones on animals. Though research says that binaural beats do work on animals, there’s no way that you’re getting headphones on your dog or cat. Even if your dog does let you slip them on, it’s pretty rare that he’ll just sit there and listen to the peaceful sounds of binaural beats.
- Your pet won’t know what to do. Binaural beats on their own aren’t effective unless you’re working on meditation and focusing on the sound. Your dog or cat might be pretty well trained, but they definitely don’t know to focus on their breathing and the sound playing when they’re listening to binaural beats.
- Playing the sound via speakers won’t give the same effects. So, the headphones won’t work. Unfortunately, speakers won’t either. As we just mentioned, the brain is unable to get the effects of binaural beats if it’s just listening to one solid sound (one frequency).
So, unfortunately, it’s just not reasonable to get your pets listening to binaural beats with any type of headphones. But, there’s also really few circumstances where an animal would need to use binaural beats in the same way that humans do.
A Lack of Need
We can’t deny that binaural beats definitely have benefits in humans. Yet, we can’t determine a solid reason for which any other type of animal would actually need to listen to binaural beats in the first place.
All animals have active brains and are able to sort through thinking processes, but not as intensely as humans do. That means the treatment methods that can be useful in humans just aren’t all that realistic for other types of animals.
Think about it.
- You can relieve your pet’s anxiety with medication, further training, and other natural supplements.
- You can encourage your pet to sleep better at night by tiring him out and getting him enough exercise during the day.
- Your animal probably doesn’t need to boost his creativity or motivation to do any tasks or assignments for work or school.
There are so many treatment methods that can be used in animals that there’s just no need to use binaural beats on animals. Add that to the fact that you won’t be able to get a pair of headphones on your pet, and you’ll realize that it’s just not the best solution.
Conclusion
Binaural beats definitely have the potential to work on animals, but there’s still a lot of work to be done there. Overall, they aren’t too effective when used on animals right now. Here’s why.
- Unless you can squeeze a pair of stereo headphones onto your dog or cat, they won’t be able to get the full effects of the binaural beats (the two different sounds).
- There’s really no need for animals to listen to binaural beats, as the effects experienced won’t be nearly the same as they are in humans.