 What is it? |
| i-Doser is marketed
as "digital drugs" -- sound waves that you listen to through headphones
that can supposedly change your mood, even make you feel high.
Obviously, at first glance, this sounds like a complete scam, a
placebo, a fake. But is it legit? My answer: YES. Well, mostly. And
there's really no way to explain it without it sounding like a
scam. You'll just have to trust me. How does it work? Here's the part that sounds like bullshit, and not just bullshit but confusing bullshit. But don't worry, I have the U.S. National Library of Medicine backing me up. You see, i-Doser tracks are technically called binaural waves. This means that a tone is played in each ear, but one has a slightly different frequency than the other. When one is played in each ear, the difference between the two frequencies is actually interpreted by the brain as a pulse--a binaural wave. For example, if one ear has a 5000hz tone, the other ear has a 5020hz tone, you hear both tones and your brain interprets a 20hz pulsing wave as well. That's not the bullshit part, it's very simple to test that--listen to one headphone/earbud alone, it sounds like a flat tone. Put both in, and you can easily sense a "pulsing" sensation. It's not coming from the track, it's being produced in your brain. Now here's the part that you'll question. You know your brain has brain waves, that also have a frequency that differs depending on your mood, or whether you're awake or asleep. This binaural wave you sense in your brain--that 20hz pulsing we talked about--that binaural wave affects the frequency of your brain waves and brings them up or down towards the frequency of the binaural wave. As your brain wave frequency changes, different chemicals are produced in your body, just as they would naturally. These include melatonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and cortisol, which have all been proven to have their levels change when your brain wave frequency does. It also brings the frequency of your right hemisphere and left hemisphere closer to each other (since there is only one binaural wave being produced) which naturally makes it easier to concentrate. If the i-Doser track creates a lower-frequency (slower-pulsing) wave than your brain waves, you'll be more calmed (the alcohol or marijuana-type high). If the track creates a higher-frequency (quicker-pulsing) wave, you'll be more alert and anxious (the cocaine-type high). There are some tracks i-Doser makes that claim to simulate orgasms or out-of-body experiences. These are much less legitimate, and may very well be placebo effects. But the majority of the tracks they make simulate more reasonable things like marijuana, cocaine, energy drinks, downer pills, etc. and these are based purely on the brain wave frequency created by each of these real products. In some tracks, background noise or music is added to increase the effect. These are surprisingly effective and I have experienced many of them myself. If this sounds like a scam to you, then please, read these reports from the United States National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. I don't think THEY would B.S. you. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17309374 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9423966 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15721080 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19616993 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20117669 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16115248 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615831 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11191043 I-Doser has 30-second samples of a few of their more recent tracks, with musical backing, available at http://www.i-doser.com/sample.htm. If you listen closely, you will be able to hear a faint pulsing wave in the background. This wave isn't actually there, it's being produced in your brain because the tones coming out of the left speaker and right speaker are slightly different. In the full-length tracks, this wave is what ultimately produces the full effect. |