Claim reviewed: Listening to binaural beats may reduce perceived pain.
What do we know?
Three meta-analyses report reduced perceived pain; pain-specific pooled effects are moderate (SMD −0.61 and −0.53). In surgical patients, pooling 5 trials showed lower postoperative pain, and pooling 4 theta-beat trials pointed the same way.
What don't we know?
Certainty is low: studies are small, heterogeneous and mostly done in clinical settings. Which beat frequency and listening time matter is unclear. A 2024 systematic review of 16 randomised trials rated the evidence as low to very low quality; most studies concerned acute pain, and evidence for chronic pain is insufficient.
Wording we use in the app: The product does not target pain; this summary appears only in the evidence library for education.
Sources (4)
Garcia-Argibay ve ark. 2019 · Meta-analysis · 22 studies
A meta-analysis of 22 studies on memory, attention, anxiety and pain found a medium, significant overall effect. Listening before the task (or before and during it) worked better than listening only during it, and longer exposure increased the effect. Masking with white or pink noise did not appear necessary.
Overall g = 0.45 (35 effect sizes from 22 studies)
First published online in 2018. The abstract gives no confidence interval. Its reference list includes a study retracted in 2021 (Colzato et al. 2017, PMID 28409319); the abstract does not show whether it was included in the analysis.
Garcia-Argibay M, Santed MA, Reales JM. Efficacy of binaural auditory beats in cognition, anxiety, and pain perception: a meta-analysis. Psychol Res. 2019;83(2):357-372. doi:10.1007/s00426-018-1066-8 PMID 30073406 Go to source
Xiong ve ark. 2025 · Meta-analysis · 15 studies
In a meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials in surgical patients, perioperative binaural beats were associated with lower anxiety and postoperative pain scores than blank audio. Heterogeneity between trials was very high; the authors call for standardized protocols and better trials.
Versus blank audio: anxiety SMD −1.38 (95% CI −1.89 to −0.87; 14 trials; I² 91.6%); postoperative pain SMD −0.61 (95% CI −1.03 to −0.19; 5 trials; I² 75.8%)
Xiong J, Jiang X, Cai B, Zhao L, Zhang Q, Luo J. Binaural beats for perioperative anxiety and pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2025;95:103299. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2025.103299 PMID 41176178 Go to source
Fatima ve ark. 2026 · Meta-analysis · 13 studies · 630 participants
Of 13 randomized trials (630 participants) of theta (4-8 Hz) binaural beats, only pain could be pooled: binaural beats were associated with less pain than controls (low certainty by GRADE). Anxiety and cognition outcomes were measured too differently to pool.
Pain SMD −0.53 (95% CI −0.84 to −0.23; 4 trials, n = 173; I² 0%)
Fatima I, Zaidi S, Sundus H, Alam MF, Parveen H, Khan SA. Efficacy of theta binaural beat therapy on pain, cognition and anxiety in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Explore (NY). 2026;22(5):103471. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2026.103471 PMID 42349368 Go to source
Shamsi ve ark. 2024 · Systematic review · 16 studies
Sixteen randomised trials of binaural beats for acute and chronic pain in adults (13 acute, 3 chronic) were reviewed; no meta-analysis was done because the studies differed too much. Most had high risk of bias and the evidence quality was low to very low. The authors name alpha or delta-to-alpha tones as a possible option for acute pain and call for better studies on chronic pain.
Shamsi F, Azadinia F, Shaygan M. Does brain entrainment using binaural auditory beats affect pain perception in acute and chronic pain?: a systematic review. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2024;24(1):34. doi:10.1186/s12906-024-04339-y PMID 38216943 Go to source
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · Next review: 3 April 2027