Use of binaural beat tapes for treatment of anxiety: A pilot study of tapepreference and outcomes

Context Recent studies and anecdotal reports suggest that binaural auditory beats can affect mood, performance on vigilance tasks, and anxiety. Objective To determine whether mildly anxious people would report decreased anxiety after listening daily for 1 month to tapes imbedded with tones tha t create binaural beats, and whether they would show a definite tape prefer ence among 3 tapes. Design A 1-group pre-posttest pilot study. Setting Patients' homes. Participants A volunteer sample of 15 mildly anxious patients seen in the C linique Psyche, Montreal, Quebec. Intervention Participants were asked to listen at least 5 times weekly for 4 weeks to 1 or more 3 music tapes containing tones that produce binaural b eats in the electroencephalogram delta/theta frequency range. Participants also were asked to record tape usage, tape preference, and anxiety ratings in a journal before and after listening to the tape or tapes. Main Outcome Measures Anxiety ratings before and after tape listening, pre- and poststudy State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores, and tape preferences d ocumented in daily journals. Results Listening to the binaural beat tapes resulted in a significant redu ction in the anxiety score reported daily in patients' diaries. The number of times participants listened to the tapes in 4 weeks ranged from 10 to 17 (an average of 1.4 to 2.4 times per week) for approximately 30 minutes per session. End-of-study tape preferences indicated that slightly more partic ipants preferred tape B, with its pronounced and extended patterns of binau ral beats over tapes A and C. Changes in pre- and posttest listening State- Trait Anxiety Inventory scores trended toward a reduction of anxiety, but t hese differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions Listening to binaural beat tapes in the delta/theta electroence phalogram range may be beneficial in reducing mild anxiety. Future studies should account for music preference among participants and include age as a factor in outcomes, incentives to foster tape listening, and a physiologic measure of anxiety reduction. A controlled trial that includes binaural be at tapes as an adjunctive treatment to conventional therapy for mild anxiet y may be warranted.