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In a TikTok video posted last month, creator Rachel Eppley shows herself lying down on her couch to take a brief nap. 

Then, she introduces her audience to binaural beats.

“In case your mom didn’t teach you, listen to binaural beats and take a 15 to 30 minute nap,” she wrote. The sound playing in the background resembled that of one-note meditation music.

The video went viral, gathering more than 200,000 likes, with people in the comments claiming that listening to binaural beats was “life-changing.”

Binaural beats have since become a popular trend on TikTok, with people arguing that listening to the sounds can help improve everything from sleep to focus, and even reduce anxiety. 

Yet the jury is still out on whether the trend actually has any tangible health benefits.

What are ‘binaural beats’?

Binaural beats are a real phenomenon, in which your brain interprets two different frequencies as an entirely new frequency. 

Binaural beats often refer to listening to two tones at different frequencies in each ear — like 132 Hertz (Hz) in your right ear and 121 Hz in your left, which creates something of an auditory illusion.

It should be noted that the concept of listening to binaural beats to improve one’s mood, sleep and mental health isn’t entirely novel. They’ve often gone hand-in-hand with meditation and many people have claimed the sounds can reduce stress, boost creativity and even help alleviate pain.

In another video that gained nearly 500,000 likes, TikToker @rula1791 wrote that she considers herself a “binaural beat DJ” — adding that she listens to binaural beats when she’s studying to help her learn and retrieve information. 

Unsurprisingly, a search for “binaural beats” on YouTube wields numerous results, many with millions of views.

“It sends a different tone to each ear and allegedly, your brain matches the frequency of the combination wave,” she says. “Specifically for gamma waves, when your brain is engaging in higher-level processing, like decision-making, problem-solving, learning, memory retrieval. Your brain exemplifies gamma waves naturally… It’s essentially telling your brain that you’re already in focus mode.”

There are different types of binaural beats, including delta (those that create a frequency in the 1 to 4 Hz range), theta (4 to 8 Hz range), alpha (8 to 13 Hz) and beta (14 to 30 Hz). 

Advocates for the trend claim that each range provides its own benefits. 

Delta, for example, is said to help with sleep and relaxation. Beta, meanwhile, is associated with a boost in focus and memory — ideal for studying or deep work.

What the experts say

Generally speaking, there isn’t much scientific evidence to back up binaural beats’ health benefits.

Rachel Barr, a neuroscientist influencer with more than 670,000 followers on TikTok and 1 million on Instagram, recently posted a video to debunk much of the misinformation surrounding binaural beats.

She points out that while binaural beats are a real scientific phenomenon that the brain experiences – the myriad of health benefit claims are much harder to prove.

“Does training a particular frequency of brain wave activity outside of an extreme example like a seizure actually change mood or behavior?” she says in the video. “I’m not so sure.”

She continues: “There are relatively few studies on the subject of binaural beats and findings among the studies that do exist are pretty contradictory. A lot of those studies also don’t do very well at controlling for… the simple relaxing effect of music all by itself… I think you can tell I’m not convinced.”

Indeed, there’s a lot of contradictory evidence about the benefits of binaural beats in the data. 

Studies conducted in the mid-2000s found that binaural beats might be linked to lower rates of anxiety.

However, a report published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry in 2015 concluded that a review of the available literature on the subject showed the data is weak and contradictory. 

In short, there isn’t enough research to provide that binaural beats can make you sleep or focus better.

“Further research, including more accurate reporting of experimental protocols, especially those studies undertaken in a clinical setting, will help to clarify the most promising effects,” the authors wrote. 

Binaural beats are far from the first time TikTok has gotten obsessed with sleep or stress reduction hacks. 

The #sleepmaxxing hashtag is full of different trends — like taking supplements, drinking the “Sleepy Girl Mocktail” or mouth-taping that claim to improve sleep. Many of the trends have questionable evidence behind them.

While experts generally agree that listening to binaural beats is harmless and may help people feel better while meditating or relaxing, they want people to know that the sounds probably won’t be a magic cure for anxiety or insomnia.

“[A] sole and passive strategy such as this one will not yield the results that people are looking for” in addressing mental health or sleep issues, psychologist Jessica McCarthy told VeryWell Mind.