Articles: Issues – Audio Brain Hacks? – 48

2am phone calls from the editor are usually interesting, but this one was a zinger. “Pat your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be a human Tone guinea pig. We’ve heard that there’s a computer programme that lets you hack your own brain using complex audio patterns.

You are our test dummy. This answer-phone will self destruct in
20 seconds”.

After cleaning up the charred remains of my answer-phone, I checked my email and sure enough I’d been sent the URL of this audio brain hacking application (bwgen.com/presets.htm). The theory goes that some binaural sounds played through earphones can supposedly hack your brain, to stimulate different
feelings. These range from making you feel hyperactive, right through to relaxed. They claim it can even simulate sex.

Now there’s not much I won’t do for Tone, but I was firmly in two minds about this Tone test. The skeptical part of me believed it was the Placebo Effect, pure and simple. That said, I was also more than a little wary about hacking my brain (my last attempt at doing a firmware hack on my PC left it in a semi-permanent vegetative state). After procrastinating for several hours, I finally came to the conclusion that since I only use three per cent of my brain, hacking the remaining 97 per cent probably wasn’t going to make much difference.

So what’s the theory behind this auditory mumbo jumbo?

Evidentially ‘entrainment’ (as they call it) creates these physiological effects by tweaking the electrical activity in your brain via auditory stimulation. How? You listen to two similar, but slightly different, sounds in each ear. The resonance between these audio sources delivers the chosen effect to my brain (I didn’t think sound could travel in a vacuum – Ed).

After taking a deep breath, I downloaded the audio generator and a swag of presets. The generator software makes WAV files out of the presets, which can then be converted into MP3 or AAC for use in audio players. All set up, I got ready to perform the audio equivalent of brain surgery and wondered if anyone would notice the difference. I bit the bullet and donned my headphones…

Because caffeine is my essential daily drug, the first hack I tried was the coffee preset. After less than a minute of listening I did begin to feel some definite effects. My heart was beating faster and I felt fully wired. Very cool, and somewhat disturbing.

Next up was the SuperFlow LSD preset. Like the other presets, it was a mishmash of weird sounds which were supposed to introduce me to Lucy in the sky with diamonds. I did get a bit day-dreamy at one stage, but I suspect that was more to do with boredom than anything else. A bit of a dud then.

After deciding that I’ll stick with aspirin as the strongest drug I take, I decided to give the Lost Time preset a bash. I’d love to tell you what I’d experienced after 20 minutes, but I can’t remember… um, next preset please?

Finally, stepping out of my comfort zone, I gave the Teeth Drilling preset a go.

This one scared the living bejesus out of me. It really did feel as if my teeth were being drilled and even caused a momentary flash of pain after less than a minute. Hell, it even sounds like a drill. While this preset might appeal to those of you with a dental fetish, the bigger question is ‘why?’

Now that the muscle spasms and bad dreams have dissipated (just kidding) I can say that my final verdict is somewhat mixed. There were definite noticeable effects with nearly all of the audio presets, and the caffeine effect really did do the business. Unfortunately, none of them were actually that fun to listen to. But, if you’re still curious, the brain wave generator is worth a try.