Effect of continuous and short burst binaural beats on EEG signals

Binaural beats are perceived when two slightly different frequencies of sound are presented to each of the ear. The difference between the two frequencies would be the frequency of the binaural beats. Binaural beats of different frequency ranges were found to influence the brain waves producing cortical entertainment and was reported to affect the subject behavior and cognitive functions. The continuous presentation of binaural beats for a prolonged time has been found not to cause any significant changes. Hence the aim of this paper was to find the effect of continuous and short burst presentation of binaural beats on EEG signal. Eighteen participants were divided into two groups and one group was initially exposed to 12 Hz short burst beat stimulus followed by continuous beat stimulus and the other group was exposed to 18 Hz short burst beat and continuous beat stimulus. Both the groups were exposed to white noise prior to the binaural beat stimulation and also between the short burst and continuous beat stimulations. The recorded EEG signals showed increase in cortical mean absolute power after short burst stimulation while continuous stimulation decreased mean absolute power. However, no significant difference or frequency following effect elicited by either continuous or short burst stimulation was observed.