A Sound Approach to Self-Regulation
In today’s overstimulated world, understanding your brain state isn’t just a neuroscience fascination, it’s a means to enrich physiological efficiency and psychological harmony. In essence, it’s a life skill and health-building hack. Naturally, it’s something we revel in exploring at VHE.
Whether you’re a young person trying to revise for exams, a teacher managing a classroom, or someone looking to feel more balanced, one key tool deserves a fresh look: binaural beats.
A binaural beat is an auditory illusion that occurs when you listen to two tones of slightly different frequencies – one in each ear – through headphones. Rather than hearing both separately, your brain interprets the difference between them as a third “phantom” tone, or beat. This is the binaural beat.
Binaural Beats and Brainwave States
Your brain is constantly shifting between different states:
- Delta (0.5–4 Hz): deep sleep, unconscious healing
- Theta (4–7 Hz): daydreaming, early sleep, creativity
- Alpha (8–13 Hz): calm alertness, focus, “flow”
- Beta (14–30 Hz): active thinking, problem-solving
- Gamma (>30 Hz): complex integration, peak cognition
Binaural beats work by mimicking these brainwave frequencies. When you listen to two slightly different tones – say, 210 Hz in the left ear and 200 Hz in the right – your brain creates a third, internal rhythm: a binaural beat of 10 Hz. This perceived tone created by your brain’s auditory system, which can gently guide your brainwaves into different states – is a process called brainwave entrainment. Headphones are essential because the effect only works when each ear receives its own tone. Depending on the frequency difference, they can support deep sleep and healing (delta) mode, meditative or consolidative mode (theta), calm focus and mildly active state (alpha), or alert concentration (beta) and hyperfocus (gamma).
Throughout the day, your brain naturally transitions between these states; from deep delta during sleep to theta upon waking, to the active alpha and beta states we spend most of our day in. You may briefly slip back down into theta when daydreaming or zoning out (like when watching television for example or sometimes even in the shower!). Most of us experience these transitions without conscious awareness, but what if we could work with them intentionally?
That’s the magic of binaural beats: they gently encourage, or entrain the brain to align with a rhythm that supports our ability to complete tasks in the moment. Say you’re overstimulated and want to unwind, a beat at 8 Hz may help you settle into an alpha state. Conversely, if you’re aiming for peak focus and creative cognition, a higher frequency like 40 Hz could encourage gamma waves and sharpen your mental edge.
So the binaural beat best suited for us will vary depending on the day or time, essentially coloured by our current brainwave state and what we want to cultivate or harness with our brain power. It’s a rhythmic, intuitive dance between stimulus and state.
Frequency and health
We often hear people talk about “high vibes” or “low vibrational frequencies” as if they represent different states of consciousness, vitality, or even proximity to illness. While this language can seem abstract or “New Age,” it is no longer considered fringe in integrative medicine and biophysics.
Everything that lives vibrates – it emits a vibrational frequency. From the atoms in the fabric of your clothing to the pulsating rhythm of your heart, matter is never static, no matter how still it may seem to the naked eye. Our bodies are constantly emitting and responding to electromagnetic signals, and healthy tissues resonate at coherent, ordered frequencies; while inflammation, oxidative stress, or disease tend to be marked by chaotic, disorganised signals. So when people say things like “stress lowers the vibe,” and such – they’re not far off.
Brainwaves, heart rhythms, and even your DNA emit light and frequencies measurable by modern instruments. Furthermore, emerging studies in biofield science explore how the body’s electromagnetic field (sometimes called the subtle energy body) can be influenced and rebalanced through frequency-based interventions like sound therapy, light exposure, meditation and breathwork among others.
Sound, in particular, is now being revisited as a tool for restoring inner coherence. For instance, 432 Hz is considered a preferred base tone for many people because it sounds generally smoother. 432 Hz is often referred to as the “natural pitch” because it appears to mirror – and thus align with – harmonic structures in nature; such as the orbital ratios of planets, cymatic (the study of visible sound vibrations) water patterns, DNA structure and even the resonance of the Earth’s magnetic field (Schumann Resonance). While clinical trials in harmonics are still limited, many people report that music tuned to 432 Hz feels physically grounding, emotionally stabilising and intuitively healing.
Some teachings even suggest that sound can activate higher states of awareness. One such idea is that the Pineal gland, long revered in spiritual and esoteric traditions as the “seat of the soul,” is a crystalline, light-sensitive structure seated in the centre of the brain surrounded by piezoelectric materials. Some researchers propose that certain sound frequencies may stimulate this gland in specific ways, potentially converting vibrational input into biophotonic, specifically blue, light. In other words, exposure to certain sound frequencies can translate vibrational sound into physical light in our brains. Blue light specifically has been associated with circadian regulation, dreaming, states of deep inner insight and healing.(1)
Tuning the Mind for Function
In learning environments, where attention is often scattered and mental fatigue builds easily, supporting the brain’s rhythm can make a meaningful difference. In classrooms, sound-based strategies can also help regulate the collective energy in the room. Tones that encourage calm focus can create a shared rhythm between students and teachers, where – with careful integration – learning and teaching can flow in greater harmony.
When used with intention, understanding brain states and sound patterns can help us build a more intuitive sense of how our brain is operating and how that affects our ability to learn, recall and stay emotionally regulated. The natural shift into theta just before falling asleep and again on waking is a quiet opening where the brain is especially open to gentle memorisation. Therefore, not only can we utilise theta binaural beats for better memory embedding, but also harness our innate cognitive faculties when we are in a theta state. The quiet pause before sleep, the stillness upon waking, even those drifting moments in the shower, can all become learning formats where new information can settle more easily.
VHE’s View
Brainwave awareness and harnessing binaural beats won’t fix everything. They don’t replace emotional maturity, self-inquiry, or the long path of learning to work with the mind. They can, however, illuminate that path. They help us notice how our internal state shapes the way we focus, feel, and learn, and how sound might support us in shifting it when needed.
Whether or not one fully embraces the wider frameworks of frequency health-building, we cannot ignore the growing body of evidence that frequency influences our biology. From a practical, classroom-based and learning perspective, it is undeniably relevant. It opens the door to greater enjoyment in the learning process by using music, rhythm, and intentional sound exposure as part of the learning process itself – a useful hack for calming the nervous system, sustaining attention, and reinforcing memory.
At VHE, we believe this kind of embodied learning belongs in education and certainly holds a space in active schooling. Young people deserve tools that speak to both their science and their senses. Learning to work with sound and understand the shifts going on in their physiology allows them to better tune in, slow down, and shift – in bioeconomical terms. It is an accessible form of self-regulation and one of the gentlest, most intuitive forms of health education available for free.
The mind, like any instrument, can be tuned – through rhythm, repetition, and the willingness to listen. If a student can mindfully utilise 10 minutes of their day, listening either to music or to their own frequency, so that they may shift out of anxiety and overwhelm toward attention, clarity and efficiency – then we think that’s worth sharing.
In Health,
#vhedu ❤️
⚠️ Disclaimer: Use of Binaural Beats
At VHE, we advocate for accessible and empowering tools to support health and self-regulation. However, binaural beats may not be suitable for everyone in all contexts. While many people find binaural beats calming or focusing, others — especially those who are highly sensitive to auditory stimuli or prone to neurodivergent responses — may experience heightened stimulation, such as increased heart rate, emotional intensity, or even anxiety. For individuals living with conditions like bipolar disorder, or those vulnerable to mania, panic, or dissociative states, certain frequency ranges (especially those associated with gamma or high beta states) could potentially exacerbate symptoms. If you notice restlessness, racing thoughts, or emotional dysregulation while using binaural beats, stop listening and return to a quiet environment. Always choose frequencies intentionally and start with shorter durations.
As with any self-regulation tool, personalised use matters. If you have a history of mental health conditions, consult with a healthcare provider before experimenting with frequency-based interventions. Binaural beats are a tool — not a cure — and should be used as part of a balanced, trauma-informed approach to wellbeing.
References:
- [Prado TP, Zanchetta FC, Barbieri B, Aparecido C, Melo Lima MH, Araujo EP. Photobiomodulation with Blue Light on Wound Healing: A Scoping Review. Life (Basel). 2023 Feb 18;13(2):575. doi: 10.3390/life13020575. PMID: 36836932; PMCID: PMC9959862.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9959862/#abstract1]
