Theta Meditation
20 minutes with an opening and a closing bell.
Do not listen while driving or operating machinery.
How is it made?
- Binaural · Left 197 Hz · Right 203 Hz · Beat 6 Hz (Theta)
- Bell · 196 Hz, 2 strikes
Sound is generated on this device in real time; no files are downloaded from a server. There is a 8 s fade-in at the start and a 0 min fade-out at the end.
Evidence
C · Preliminary/mixed evidenceSmall trials or pilot studies; inconsistent results.
Some studies report short-term relaxation; results are inconsistent.
Evidence level C: Preliminary/mixed evidence- What do we know?
- Meta-analyses and pre-surgery trials report short-term reductions in anxiety; the effect against blank audio looks large, but heterogeneity between studies is very high. Of 12 randomized trials on stress, 8 reported a positive result on at least one measure and 4 found no difference. In a 2025 preoperative trial, anxiety fell slightly more in the binaural beat group than in an unstimulated control; it fell in both groups.
- What don't we know?
- Some controlled studies found no effect: in a surgical trial with 90 patients in Türkiye, binaural and isochronic groups did not differ from a no-sound group, and in an online study of 58 people, 40 Hz beats did not change a single-item anxiety rating. Randomization and blinding are unclear in most studies, and adverse effects are rarely studied.
Meditation programs have shown small positive effects on some anxiety measures, with moderate-strength evidence.
Evidence level B: Moderate evidence- What do we know?
- In a meta-analysis of 47 randomized trials with active controls (3,515 people), mindfulness meditation programs showed small positive effects on anxiety, depression and pain with moderate-strength evidence; evidence for stress and distress was low.
- What don't we know?
- This evidence mostly comes from structured 8-week programs; whether listening to a sound session alone has the same effect is unknown. Participants came from diverse clinical populations. The programs were not shown to be better than drugs, exercise or other behavioral approaches, and NCCIH notes that much of the research is preliminary.
A session's level is the weakest of its linked claims; it is never raised by a strong but unrelated claim.
Keep your device volume comfortable, preferably below 60%. You can also use your device's headphone-safety settings.