Frequency-Following Response, Binaural Beats, the "God" helmet??? - What are the limits of FFR technology?

Frequency-Following Response, (or more affectionately: FFR) is a scientific way to describe "grooving to your favourite tune". And it's a handy phrase in that it points to the neural function that would otherwise be referred to rather insubstantially as: "You know that feeling you get when you listen to good music?"

FFR was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Dove, the neuro-scientist who revealed that the "beat" observed when hearing two, dissonant, pure tones, is assimilated in the brain when the two tones are presented separately through stereo headphones. By changing the frequency (the note) of the two tones, Dove observed that the brain patterns of his subjects were responding by "following" the changes in frequency.

The topic was dismissed as irrelevant by the medical community until 1973, when it was revisited by Dr. Gerald Oster, who's research paper "Auditory Beats In The Brain" was published in Scientific American. But the attitude of the medical associations remained a condescending "Ok, so what?"

It may be of interest that, at this point, the implications of FFR were the replacement of risky experimental psycho-active drugs with self hypnosis - learning positive suggestions aided by Binaural Beats - and that the very idea of such a revolution in accepted psychological treatment immediately provoked a strongly negative response from the medical fraternity, and more specifically the pharmaceutical industry. 

Koren "God" Helmet, Stanley Koren,
senior technician for the research group

Like Tesla, Essiac, and water cars, FFR technology went underground, and came up recently in a highly controversial project which became known as "The God Helmet". Taking the Frequency-Following Response to a new extension, Dr. Michael Persinger's research into the role of the limbic system in the perception of mystical experiences, Laurentian University's Neuroscience Department, resulted in the construction of an apparatus which provides magnetic signals to the brain, and runs on a computer software program. The brain follows the frequency of the signals, and according to test subject reports, tends to produce experiences of a spiritual nature.


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NLP, Binaural Beats, and Isochronic Tones

[Bin = two; aural = audible] - An illusory beat is perceived when pure tones of slightly different frequency are separately and simultaneously presented to each ear. 

Frequency-Following Response: The neural firing rate "follows" the perceived frequency.

Do pure tone binaural beats sometimes make you feel queasy? You may find that isochronic tones create a more gentle, less dissonant carrier wave for your affirmations and intentions, or you may find them annoying and distracting, and binaural beats really do it for you - the important thing is that you find a carrier wave that works for you, because FFR (Frequency-Following Response) is hard-wired, and everyone can benefit from it.

FFR is a scientific way to describe grooving to your favourite tune. Its a handy phrase, because it points to the neural function that would otherwise be referred to rather insubstantially as: "You know that feeling you get when you listen to good music?"

Everybody knows that music effects our emotions if we allow it. Do you choose your CDs and playlists specifically to lift you up? Keep you feeling good? Of course you do! Why would anyone listen to terrible music?

And if music is so powerful, and the Frequency-Following Response is a sure thing, why not take it one step further: you could theoretically "program" anything you like into the music you listen to, and your mind would follow it. You would start to feel how you want to feel, and if you feel how you want to feel then your behaviour and reactions will change, and if your behaviour is different then different things will happen to you, and if different things happen to you, things that you want, then your life is changing, isnt it?

This idea is perhaps the most over-simplified, underestimated, misunderstood, and consequently dismissed concept of self empowering personal development. Most people either deny it outright or see it as a lazy way to make a profound and amazing life transformation. Most products in this field promise to do all the work for you - and the fact is: all attempts based on laziness fail, because no-one can transform your life for you. 

Misunderstanding binaural beats and expecting your life to change is like trying to build a microwave out of headphones and then dismissing microwave technology as pseudoscience.

Experimentation with binaural beats revealed the Frequency-Following Response in the late 1800s, but the medical world had already turned to pharmaceuticals, and any attempt to research "alternative" therapies was quickly branded as quackery, and abandoned. Even the resurgence of interest in the 1970s, and a publication of Scientific American featuring the research of neuro-scientist Gerald Oster (Auditory Beats In The Brain), was not enough to merit a full scale enquiry by the medical fraternity. One may hazard a guess that, once you know the formula and the correct method of use, binaural beats and isochronic tones can too easily be produced on a home PC using free software, and if the AMA allowed that, who would buy their fancy expensive anxiety pills?

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