What are binaural beats?

A binaural beat is an auditory percept produced when two tones with slightly different frequencies are presented separately to each ear.

A simple example

If one ear receives one tone and the other ear receives a slightly different tone, the listener may perceive an additional rhythmic beat corresponding to the difference between them.

Do they entrain brainwaves?

The answer is not settled. A 2023 systematic review identified 14 qualifying studies: five reported results consistent with the entrainment hypothesis, eight reported contradictory results, and one reported mixed results.

Practical takeaway

You can treat binaural audio as a listening format you may or may not enjoy. Claims that it reliably produces major cognitive changes deserve stronger evidence than the existence of the auditory phenomenon itself.

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Source: Ingendoh RM, Posny ES, Heine A. PLOS ONE. 2023;18(5):e0286023.