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AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

• jorgecurio 11y ago
  well it's obviously helping me concentrate because I'm posting this comment.
• jalopy 11y ago
  Curious about the tech/science behind this. Is it mostly binaural beats?
  • nefitty 11y ago
    They seem to distance themselves from binaural beat technology, in their About Us page: "Gerald Oster, the original researcher of binaural beats, denied it's therapeutic use cases and endorsed other audio methods as more effective" $7/month doesn't seem too bad, at least to test out. I think I will give it a go for a bit.
  • foxylion 11y ago
    The website is a bit vague about that, but they say it has nothing to do with binaural beats. > How is this different from binaural beats (or similar tools)? > Binaural beats is 1970s technology. It's akin to comparing dial up internet (binaural beats) to fiber optic internet (Brain.fm). The difference is advanced technology which equates to superior results. Gerald Oster, the original researcher of binaural beats, denied it's therapeutic use cases and endorsed other audio methods as more effective find the research paper on google. [1] > Why are binaural beats so popular? They've been overhyped by marketers, not scientists. [1] http://www.amadeux.net/sublimen/documenti/G.OsterAuditoryBeatsintheBrain.pdf http://www.amadeux.net/sublimen/documenti/G.OsterAuditoryBea...
    • nitrogen 11y ago
      There's another method that shifts the phase of the entire spectrum instead of generating pure tones. That method has been available in software like CoolEdit (I think Adobe bought it later) since at least 1996. I wonder if that is the method used by brain.fm, but I haven't had a chance to check it out.
    • pmarreck 11y ago
      FYI: someone from the company just responded in a sister comment
  • jasbrainfm 11y ago
    Hi there, we don't use binaural beats. Or isochronic tones. Our CTO (Adam Hewett) is the founder of Transparent Corp. His older software is used to create the vast majority of isochronic tones, and all those videos you see on youtube, etc. Any rhythmic audio stimulus will entrain the brain. Actually, the very first research on audio brainwave stimulation used simple clicks. As another example if you had a drummer that could be precise enough, drums could also stimulate the brain. But, neither clicks nor binaural beats nor isochronic tones sound very good. Yes, you can get used to them. Adam used them for a decade. But he spent all of that decade finding a better way. And what he found is that if you embed rhythmic modulations into the music in a natural way - disguising it as natural vibrations or vibrato or tremolo - not only is it more pleasant, it is more effective. MUCH more effective. The intensity levels we can get using this method are much higher than what we can get with older methods and still be comfortable for the user. So in 2005 Adam created a system that could single out instruments in a recording and add natural-sounding "vibrations". He has been perfecting it ever since. There's a lot more to Brain.fm as well! We've perfected MIT's HRTF technology to create a kind of "3D audio". And that's the real reason we suggest using headphones for the full effect of Brain.fm. It is a vital part. We spatially place sound around you to enhance your goal (for focus it is in front of you, for sleep it mimics the rocking of a hammock, cradle, etc). And then there's the algorithmic AI-generated music. Believe it or not, all the music in Brain.fm is produced by an algorithm that Adam spent a very long time. The benefit? Imagine a rain sound for a second. Hundreds of thousands of drops! Imagine now that each and every drop is synchronized to the purpose of the stimulation. Now imagine a symphony... That is Brain.fm. I'll have Adam hop in the thread soon so we can answer any further questions!
    • JonnieCache 11y ago
      >Any rhythmic audio stimulus will entrain the brain ... the very first research on audio brainwave stimulation used simple clicks. So you're saying that minimal techno is actually good for you? I don't believe it ;)
    • sklivvz1971 11y ago
      Can you provide evidence of the effectiveness of your methods? Are there peer reviewed studies that sustain your statements? Spot checking the site, there isn't much convincing evidence (a double blind trial with very few subjects that you sponsored is not really convincing).
• shinefuller 11y ago
  >17 subject were tested to measure effects of a Brain.fm focus session
• whelp 11y ago
  Mozart's music sounds like AI generated. Not sure about the focus/relax/sleep parts though.
• Kpourdeilami 11y ago
  I have been using this for a couple of months to stay focused while I'm coding and it is very effective.
• bonoboTP 11y ago
  I like the way the music sounds but I'm very skeptical of the science and the AI behind it.
  • iQuercus 11y ago
    Dr. Steven Novella on brainwave entrainment, from 2008: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/brainwave-entrainment-and-marketing-pseudoscience/ http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/brainwave-entra... "That is generally where the science ends and the pseudoscience begins. A number of companies and individuals have then extrapolated from the phenomenon of entrainment to claim that altering the brain waves changes the actual functioning of the brain. There is no theoretical or empirical basis for this, however. Entrainment is a temporary effect on the synchronization of neuronal firing – it does not improve or increase brain functioning, it does not change the hardwiring, nor does it cure any neurological disorder. There is no compelling evidence for any effect beyond the period of entrainment itself." I do like the "Cyberpunk" atmosphere of some of the music. But their other claims require some extraordinary evidence. For example, does this impart any more benefit than me listening to my favorite working music whilst working? It doesn't seem to. But I haven't had a chance to sift through their supposed "180 studies"
    • okc 11y ago
      Neurological disorders are often related to periodicity of body rhythms and I think its generally accepted that resonance theory on internal oscillators are still in an infant stage, especially regarding their long term and cross cultural capability for variance. All the promises stated are possible. But, I'd also like to see a simple summary of the theory underpinning this music, even just defining the type of entrainment would make the product far more interesting and valuable. This coupled with the in-your-face-sales, promises and gimmicks whilst casually alluding to studies (with no reference for technical points) makes me get the feeling I'm being duped.
    • bonoboTP 11y ago
      Yeah, I'd also like to see a study where they test this magic-AI-music against some generic 10 hours relax/focus music from Youtube (or the Machinarium or Age of Empires 2 soundtrack). Properly randomized and blinded etc. I'd also like to know what it means that this is produced by an AI. What do they optimize for? I mean it would be really cool if they could do some reinforcement learning with real time EEG feedback and whatnot, but I think there is not much AI going on here. Perhaps even zero. Also, the UI contains a lot of bullshit frills and wizardry, writing stuff like "generating your brainwave" and shiny animations (It's like how MSN messenger used to write "Loading your friend list..." and other recognizable and understandable things for half the time of its loading screen). And then after one session it makes us click through a personal survey, where you have to click yes or no, for questions like "are you easily distracted", "do you have problems with concentrating", "do you have issues with personal organization" and similar stuff, do you have anxiety etc etc. It's a bit like they are trying to make you realize that "yeah, kinda, I think I could improve myself in these things, let's click yes". I'm not sure how they call this psychological manipulation technique, but I've read about it somewhere. Basically it's the same idea as some cashiers being instructed to ask you if your shopping was a pleasant experience. You want to be polite and go on with the script, but then you'll still identify with that "yes" answer. Generally, the site rubs me the wrong way. It seems to be targeted at people who don't know much about science or AI, but like the brand and image of science and AI, as these are cool things nowadays. It also builds upon gamification and all these manipulative things.
• vinchuco 11y ago
  If you open all of them in different tabs, do you become good at everything?
  • skeletonjelly 11y ago
    You achieve enlightenment and use up your 7 free sessions
    • tomsthumb 11y ago
      Does firefox have the Buddah Nature?
      • JimmyM 11y ago
        μ
    • holmboy_ 11y ago
      You can bypass the 7 free sessions limit by using Chrome Incognito, just open a new tab each time you run out of sessions
      • nefitty 11y ago
        Rude to put this out there. If anyone here couldn't have figured this out themselves then I'm curious as to how they ended up trawling HN.
• jtmarmon 11y ago
  been using this for months and enjoying it a lot while hacking. i definitely get into flow more quickly and stay in it more easily
  • j45 11y ago
    Me as well. Some of the tracks (or rather the instruments that seem to show up regularly) are starting to build some muscle memory to at least trigger my brain to start focussing.
• rjurney 11y ago
  I don't know why, but this makes me feel smart. Placebo++
  • corvus_sapiens 11y ago
    Hey, placebo effect is good enough. The placebo effect works even if you know it's a placebo.
    • disordinary 11y ago
      rather just listen to the band placebo.
    • jackweirdy 11y ago
      If you send me £30 I'll give you some of my double-strength placebo. Really powerful stuff, not available on the general market.
• jkxyz 11y ago
  I'm sure that most of the benefit of using this tool is derived from the fact that the music is consistently low-tempo and relaxing ambient music. Comparing that to an album of ambient music, it might not be so consistent in its style and so could distract from the focus. Still, the generated music is quite nice. I still feel that I'd rather listen to a real album, though, created with artistic intent and not computer generated. Music (as a listener and creator) is very important to me and I'm not ready to concede its creation to the machines just yet. Perhaps in a few more years...
  • mtdewcmu 11y ago
    It's putting me to sleep, even though I'm listening through speakers and not headphones.
    • shardo 11y ago
      Perhaps it's just your mind getting easily tired from having to focus for large periods of time?
    • ahewett 11y ago
      Which category were you listening to? It's definitely a whole different experience with headphones :)
      • mtdewcmu 11y ago
        I picked something sleepy.
        • ahewett 11y ago
          Ah, well, glad it worked then :)
  • ahewett 11y ago
    Hey, this Adam from Brain.fm. I created the music "AI" thing. Glad to have the praise of a musician! My family's very musical, so it took some convincing for them as well. The thing is, it still takes creativity! It took me half a year to create it, and there's a little piece of my soul in this AI. A horcrux, programmed in. :) It makes music how I would make music. Well, most of the time. I had to create the thing because it was taking me a month to create a single session manually, and much of what I had to do was so precise that an algorithm could do it easier. Every note, every beat, has to be perfectly synchronized with the other filters we're applying to the music. So I built some algorithms, but they piled up, had to be constantly re-calibrated based on additions to the music as I kept composing. Keep in mind these are half hour to hour long pieces! And there's no shortcuts - I can't just throw a bunch of music in there, because even the smallest pop/overclip/dissonant moment, could wake someone up, or break their concentration... It just got to a point where something with more working memory than me had to take over. The music in Brain.fm is very structured and obeys strict rules. There are some genres I can't get right yet - rock, folk, and so on. Although I'm always happy when people like it, and I like to think I did a good job giving the AI decent taste, I definitely don't have any illusions about this replacing humans :) Did you take a listen to the Focus categories? Most of those are 120bpm. (skip around till you hit the classical one - I fed the AI harpsichord concertos I grew up with. Cool example of how maybe this could help some composers!) Got a link to your stuff? Love to hear it. - Adam (oh and also there is definitely more than ambient music even in the relaxation sessions. Give it another listen if you have a moment. Skip around. There's indian music, mongolian chants, and the nature sounds are also all AI-generated. Every gust of wind, every raindrop :)
• hrbrtglm 11y ago
  As the primary goal is to listen to the music, I do really appreciate the fact that the webpage stops its graphics animations when it loses the focus. It is great to improve my focus as I am not disturbed by my waving cpu meter. Great work, love it.
  • jasbrainfm 11y ago
    Thanks a ton!
    • Scramblejams 11y ago
      Would appreciate a checkbox so I could disable the CPU-saturating visualization without having to hide the page.
• oli5679 11y ago
  White noise helped me cope with exam stress at undergrad. Here's my favourite.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjWIxXBs_s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjWIxXBs_s
• joolze 11y ago
  Sure, this probably helps you focus better than a standard studio album. I would argue that 90% of the benefit of this music is just from the extended intervals of contiguous playing, so there's no "break" disruption. I think any DJ (esp. deep house) worth half their salt can get someone "in the zone" for half an hour at a time. And artists devoted to minimalist ambient or trambient can get you going for hours straight. Honestly the "Focus: Intense" or whatever I find super annoying. It's got this constant anxious buildup feel to it and never fucking breaks into what I would consider that peak when I start playin my keyboard like a goddamn piano. Basically, no fucking way would I even consider shelling out an additional Spotify subscription for some "high tech" whale song machine.
  • ChristianBundy 11y ago
    The feeling you described reminds me of the genre "jersey club" -- you can spend hours in a buildup that never breaks into a drop. Absolutely horrific, I don't understand the genre at all.
• subpixel 11y ago
  I dig it. I'm creating an SSB pinned to my menubar for this right now.
• j45 11y ago
  For the productivity obsessed on HN making negative comments, I'm surprised more haven't tried this kind of stuff out. I have used white noise or waves for a long time to drown out outdoor noise around me. My initial start with this kind of stuff was listening to various stations on somafm. I like finding music that fits well in the background, isn't too engaging or something I'm familiar with, and hopefully devoid of vocals so I kept looking and came across a few instrumental tracks on itunes. There's maybe a reason babies benefit from wave/sleep machines. White noise does have an effect that can aid in focus and concentration, science, placebo, or otherwise, I'm happy for the sustained productivity boost I've been able to have for several years. I did buy brain.fm on a whim a while back it has replaced simplynoise or more to that point. If there was a bit more information published on how it was put together I'd be interested, and if not, I'd probably keep using it. Would like it to be a downloadable or app that I could keep with me. Some things aren't for those who can't put themselves in other people's shoes, or imagine something may work for others that doesn't seem to be imaginable or work for them.
  • Scramblejams 11y ago
    Also would be interested in an iOS app version of this.
    • jkalmadi 11y ago
      iOS + Android coming very soon! Internally beta testing mobile apps now. For now! You can visit https://brain.fm https://brain.fm on your phone's browser (chrome, firefox) and it will work fine :)
      • j45 11y ago
        I didn't know I could log in from my mobile browser. Hopefully the sound works in the background, thanks!
• louprado 11y ago
  Does this music ever repeat ? I can't tell if it is a play list of previously AI generated music or continuously novel AI generated music. I stopped listening to focusatwill.com because the repetition was too distracting even with a paid subscription.
  • j45 11y ago
    I have been using this the past few months, there is some repetition but not enough to notice. It seems brain.fm is keeping track of what it does and doesn't play for me and asks me for feedback if I liked a track or not. I used focusatwill for a bit too, I liked the mobile aspect of it. brain.fm captured me as a customer with a lifetime offer.
  • Ensorceled 11y ago
    Yeah, that's why I stopped with focusatwill.com as well. Once the same music came up 4 or 5 times it stopped working ... and so did I.
• sibizavic 11y ago
  Sounds pretty cool. Thumbs up for the idea.
• PascLeRasc 11y ago
  I just worked on something similar at a hackathon this weekend with the Muse Headband, it was really fun. We used a support vector machine to maximize the "calmness" output of the band, which is some weighted sum of gamma and beta waves I believe.
  • dmazin 11y ago
    Is the Muse easy to hack? I was thinking of buying one to play with.
    • jdpigeon 11y ago
      You can fiddle around with it connected to a PC pretty nicely in Python
    • PascLeRasc 11y ago
      The hardest part of the weekend was getting real-time data through OSC. It's been done in Python and node before, but none of us were super proficient in getting data from the local server the scripts pushed to. This is the matlab library we eventually settled on: https://github.com/MuSAELab/muse_osc https://github.com/MuSAELab/muse_osc I'd say it was pretty easy compared to Myo, but I wouldn't pay $300 for one. I'd use it again though if it was available for a weekend.
  • Hydraulix989 11y ago
    What you've worked on sounds much more scientific than OP.
    • OJFord 11y ago
      I'm not sure if that's fair. They (claim to) have [0] a bunch of PhDs, and have a page with the same kind of words on [1] as parent. [0] https://www.brain.fm/about [1] https://www.brain.fm/#science
      • Hydraulix989 11y ago
• batz 11y ago
  So an AI can learn to generate music that compels people to become more receptive to suggestion, in particular the suggestion that they should act as proxies for the will of an AI. Well played.
• Hydraulix989 11y ago
  Brainwave entrainment is pseudoscience. The placebo effect is powerful.
  • siddboots 11y ago
    Ambient sound has a tremendous capacity to alter one's mood. Causal explanations in terms of brainwaves, etc, are invariably psuedoscience, but that does not mean that the placebo effect is the only thing going on here.
    • Hydraulix989 11y ago
      That's great, music having effects on the brain is pretty widely accepted as true ("This is your brain on music"), but claiming that playing slightly offset frequencies into different ears causes "brainwaves" to synchronize with the difference in frequencies is where a lot of people are skeptical. I've done a fair bit of dabbling in the DIY EEG realm while hacking my own sleep, so I've seen (the absence of) these effects first hand. Now that I read their website, the authors of this new-fangled music generator are also denouncing binaural beat brainwave entrainment, which would ordinarily be the stance I'd recommend anyone take who builds such a product. I remember BWG (Brainwave Generator), a shareware binaural beat audio synthesizer software from the 90s-00s, having "presets" for inducing such phenomena as out-of-body experiences and lucid dreams. They even extolled the weight loss and smoking cessation benefits of brainwave entrainment. That software came up every so often on the LD4ALL lucid dreaming forum. Art Bell would be proud.
• ericlamb89 11y ago
  kept me off facebook for 3 minutes...nice!
• tunnuz 11y ago
  Similar service which I really like (no AI, but you can calibrate the sounds to match your hearing curve) https://mynoise.net/ https://mynoise.net/
• SCHiM 11y ago
  As someone who experiences asmr I was expecting a somewhat similar experience while listening to the 'sleep' module/mode. But I don't think this does anything for me, in fact the sound set me a bit on edge for no apparent reason.
  • endergen 11y ago
    Not me, I'm listening to the Calm -> Guide Meditation one and wow is it relaxing. Not quite getting asmr symptoms, but one average I feel quite relaxed and content. I agree on the on edge quality, for me it's subtle though and probably why I'm not getting full blown asmr bliss.
• ilostmykeys 11y ago
  Doesn't help. I'm about to rip my headphones off. Such anxiety inducing music (intense focus) ... pfft.
• chejazi 11y ago
  Currently listening to intense focus. I've been casually looking for background music like this for a while. Thank you.
• ogig 11y ago
  I've been using music for years to improve my focus, relaxation, sleep, happyness, sadness, social relations and many more. Music make us feel things, we all know that. For me it's out of question that it can make you better, speaking broadly. Now, having brain.fm picking the music so I can feel X seems like a step backwards. I already can do that but much better just using the wonderful universe of existing recorded music. I don't see the value for me here.
• pjbrunet 11y ago
  Sounds like typical "drone" or "space" electronic music, which is arguably a subcategory of "ambient" music. (Not my cup of tea, but it is what it is.) Also recently discovered http://mynoise.net http://mynoise.net they have some interesting soundscapes.
• phacops 11y ago
  An Apple TV app for this would be great
  • jkalmadi 11y ago
    yes! agreed. on the roadmap. junaid cofounder, brain.fm
• gumpyoung 11y ago
  I don't mind to try this new one... my favourite is http://musicforprogramming.net http://musicforprogramming.net, all tracks are available as podcasts on iOS devices too.
  • roflmyeggo 11y ago
    I use these for coding/studying all the time. If you download all of them and put them on shuffle you basically have ~40 hours of music to jump into at any given moment.
    • look_lookatme 11y ago
      Here is a script to download all of them : ) https://gist.github.com/anonymous/62574c1f8161744395e4 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/62574c1f8161744395e4 [edit] Previous gist only had 34 of the tracks, updated one has all 38.
      • gumpyoung 11y ago
        love it :)
• sergiotapia 11y ago
  I still can't find anything better to program to than Nujabes. I'm going to give this a genuine shot, but Jun Seba really left his mark on me for life. I find myself listening to his albums and songs at least twice a day. I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs. Counting Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-tTmSY4m4M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-tTmSY4m4M Voice of Autum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvcQWJaaQDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvcQWJaaQDw Arurian Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6E9WMM0vko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6E9WMM0vko
  • tonetheman 11y ago
    Man that stuff is amazing. You/this comment is exactly why I read comments. GREAT STUFF.
  • chejazi 11y ago
    Just finished watching Samurai Champloo, where I first learned about Nujabes. I was saddened when I discovered the artist died in 2010. Great music! RIP
    • sergiotapia 11y ago
      Rest in Beats
    • xzel 11y ago
      I literally broke down and cried my freshman year of college when I heard the news. I was a massive fan of his at the time and I really was devastated. I binged on his music for a couple days and eventually was at peace with it all; its touching to me that his music can have that effect. RIP Jun.
  • searchfaster 11y ago
    Excellent ! Thank you.. I am sure this will accompany me through countless hours of coding..
• julianz 11y ago
  I set this to "intense focus" and the result is almost exactly the same as the opening track to Tangerine Dream's 1983 album Hyperborea, "No Man's Land". Funnily enough, I've always found that an amazing album to listen to when in need of concentration or relaxation.
• jrometty 11y ago
  This might sound hilarious, but I've always used Frank Ocean's Channel Orange as coding music.
• frr149 11y ago
  Any promo codes for Hacker News denizens? :-)
  • jkalmadi 11y ago
    yes! here's a '$25 for life' deal: https://brain.fm/hackernews https://brain.fm/hackernews :) junaid cofounder, brain.fm
    • saiprashanth93 11y ago
      Hey, on clicking on the link it takes to the home page and nothing happens, am I missing something here?
      • ccakes 11y ago
        Click through the Listen link and the pricing is applied when you get to that stage
    • Raphmedia 11y ago
      That's pretty awesome of you. I'm jumping on this offer!
• daveguy 11y ago
  While everyone is giving their favorites I thought I would throw mine in. Two sites -- pandora.com and coffitivity.com On pandora -- their baroque classical station On coffitivity -- University undertones. You have to fiddle with the volumes a bit to get them balanced, but once you do it is a great passive sound for concentration and focus. Also a good one that I picked up from my college roommate -- drum and bass techno. Anything with lyrics gets me thinking about the lyrics.
• paulrd 11y ago
  Sometimes super down,down tempo is the way to go for working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVnLon8TvXk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVnLon8TvXk
• bamazizi 11y ago
  I believe taste/preference as the differentiator is missing. The "intense + focus" music on brain.fm puts me to sleep. My coding music is ASOT weekly series, it's usually couple of hours of house and trance music where I get immersed into coding zone and once finished i take a 10-15min break, repeat. When I concentrate I don't hear anything that's when I know I'm in the zone. It's my preference and it's surely different from yours, hence why the differentiator is missing. ASOT Episode 751: https://www.mixcloud.com/dancecontrol/armin-van-buuren-a-state-of-trance-asot-751-18-feb-2016/ https://www.mixcloud.com/dancecontrol/armin-van-buuren-a-sta...
  • LoSboccacc 11y ago
    same. I prefer anything but the relaxing kind of repetitive music they'd suggest. the whole thread above this also has very nice music suggestion, but nothing I'd use to get in the zone.
  • greggman 11y ago
    Don't know if you'll like this but these do it for me DJ Apsara, After Dark. https://soundcloud.com/search?q=dj%20apsara%20afterdark https://soundcloud.com/search?q=dj%20apsara%20afterdark
  • ahewett 11y ago
    This is actually great feedback. I can definitely create some trance, house, etc. There is techno/electronic music already in there, but only at around 120bpm, and probably won't be as bass-intensive or dramatic as you're used to. Junaid my co-founder shares a lot of your taste, and so does my sister, so I have a few willing guinea pigs :) - Adam from Brian.fm
• Diederich 11y ago
  I have a background in music composition, so ANY music I listen to...no matter what, distracts me, since part of me is decomposing it. It's taken several years, but I've conditioned myself to enter high focus mode by listening to white noise. Self conditioning is, I think, the key part for me at least.
  • atom-morgan 11y ago
    I play drums. I can't listen to any music I know well otherwise I start drumming along.
• runjake 11y ago
  I like this a lot but, in my opinion, the pricing is way too high and keeps me from giving you money. I'd buy it as a $5 app, for sure.
  • alooPotato 11y ago
    really? If it works for you then isn't this worth an incredible amount of money (i.e. if you can focus for longer and get more productive work out of the same hours)? If it doesn't work then its worth $0. My guess is that they need to price it low enough not to scare ppl away, but if it works, then ppl will pay a lot.
    • runjake 11y ago
      > really? If it works for you then isn't this worth an incredible amount of money No. > If it doesn't work then its worth $0. No, it's worth about $5 to me. I was providing my perspective as a would-be customer interested in the product, nothing more.
  • jkalmadi 11y ago
    good point. frankly we're figuring out pricing. want to made it accessible and reasonable to all is the goal :) for now, here's a '$25 for life' deal: https://brain.fm/hackernews https://brain.fm/hackernews junaid cofounder, brain.fm
  • MrBuddyCasino 11y ago
    Same here. I have a very boring project right now, and the music helped me to focus better. Though over time, I feel a need to move, a motor restlessness if you will. I'd buy it as a 5$ app, but not as a subscription, because I'm pretty sure that I will not listen to this for the rest of my life (or even the rest of the year).
• mathrawka 11y ago
  I subscribe to https://www.focusatwill.com/ https://www.focusatwill.com/ I would like to see a comparison of the two to understand the pros and cons of each.
  • jkalmadi 11y ago
    Oooo.. would love for you try brain.fm vs focusatwill and hear your review! here's '$25 for life' deal to brain.fm: https://brain.fm/hackernews https://brain.fm/hackernews junaid cofounder, brain.fm
    • mathrawka 11y ago
      I've used both a few times today, but it is really hard for me to judge how "focused" I was. Did I get work done with them? Yes... but I also get work done without either of them. I like how you have a lot of the science information on the site that explains it. Plus the sleep mode is intriguing, as F@W says it is for focus at work and reading only (via their whitepaper https://www.focusatwill.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/White-Paper-on-Focus@Will-Reading-Research.pdf https://www.focusatwill.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/White...). I'd like to hear a third party opinion that objectively compares the science behind both of them. Thanks for the discount, I'd probably keep using so I went ahead and paid the $25. Even though I have been burned a few times by the "for life" purchases, I don't expect it to last for more than 1 or 2 years ;)
    • ccakes 11y ago
      Thanks for the promo - signed up. This thread got me searching and there's a lot of good feedback around
    • jld89 11y ago
      What happened with that promo? I'd like to have it too if possible!
    • mgiannopoulos 11y ago
      Thank you for this, already had 3 sessions today, it's very good!
• itsnotvalid 11y ago
  So there are already tons of apps on App Store or Play store featuring auto-generated beats for working and sleeping. Is there any clinical studies saying that this service is better than any of those? If the effects are the same, why choosing this over others?
• exception_e 11y ago
  Related: http://mtcb.pwop.com/ http://mtcb.pwop.com/ This is by Carl Franklin of the .NET Rocks! podcast. Definitely helps me focus.
• mixmastamyk 11y ago
  So, tried it and was enjoying it a lot, helped me to focus writing (finally) on a particular chapter of a book I've been dreading for some reason. So, I get in the zone and then click! internet error. Had to refresh, and now it demands I complete a survey and register... grumble grumble. :/ Cool site though, good luck.
  • oldrustybucket 11y ago
    F12 -> Resources -> Cookies -> right-click brain.fm -> clear cookies
  • ahewett 11y ago
    Sorry about that! We're under heavy load right now, and there's just a few of us :) Registration is free though! Then you get more free sessions. I hear we're planning on creating a longer trial program soon. But until then, I hope you'll give it another try. For the record I don't really mind if people use it incognito, BUT it will keep giving you the same sessions over and over. So you're not getting but a fraction of the experience. We just need the survey so we can better adapt to you, and for benchmarks later on. It really doesn't take long. Also if you have an account it will adapt to you using ratings and other metrics, like if you skip a song consistently, etc. - Adam from Brain.fm
• jqm 11y ago
  I listen to soma.fm groove salad while programming. (https://somafm.com/groovesalad/ https://somafm.com/groovesalad/) I've discovered some great artists on there. Jens Buchert for instance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GomAbBP9IaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GomA...
  • fredley 11y ago
    I like beatblender or poptron depending on my mood.
• vhiremath4 11y ago
  Been using Brain.fm for a few months now. Incredibly boosted performance programming on my end.
  • ahewett 11y ago
    That's what we like to hear :) - Adam from Brain.fm
• ahewett 11y ago
  Adam from Brain.fm here! Happy to answer any questions. :) I've been doing this stuff for a while and I love talking about it. I've contacted Giovanni, our lead neuroscientist, so hopefully he'll be able to get on soon as well. I'm a regular of HN and it's wild to see something of mine up here.
  • okc 11y ago
    Hi Could you explain, technically, how and by what you think the brain waves are being manipulated? Thanks
    • ahewett 11y ago
      Hey, great question, though I'm not sure if you want the audio or neurological explanation, or both :) I'm also not sure how technical you want or how much you know already, so apologies if I'm too technical, and apologies if I'm not technical enough. I'll just try to start from the beginning and lay everything out from there, as briefly as I can. Tragically, however, I was born without brevity. 1) Brain.fm: The Brain's Perspective When a sound enters your ear, it's converted from a pressure wave to an electrical impulse, which you can measure in the brain as a kind of spike on an EEG, or a cortical response. If the sound plays again, another spike occurs (although typically smaller). If a sound keeps being repeated in a fast and precise enough way, the cortical responses start to resemble rhythms already in the brain. For example, if you tap your finger rapidly on the table, you might be tapping at 10hz (10 taps a second). 10hz is also a very dominant in the brain. If you could tap your finger precisely enough, and for a long enough time, what you would see in the brain (if you know what you're doing) is new activity at 10hz. This is called the Frequency Following Response, and it's well established. Check it out on pubmed, etc, if you're interested. Now if you keep tapping for even longer - and again, if you're super precise about it - your existing brainwave patterns near that same frequency will start to align themselves towards the phase and frequency of your tapping. BTW sorry about the delay in responding to you. Believe it or not, in between some meetings I was searching for a good article this whole time to show you. Here it is: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/41/14935.full http://www.pnas.org/content/111/41/14935.full This effect is called lots of things, including, confusingly, the frequency-following response by some in the private sector. It's most often known by the public as brainwave entrainment, but that's rarely in the literature. In the literature you see all kinds of words for it: neural entrainment, auditory driving, auditory entrainment, steady state responses of various types... The level of confusion over what to call this thing is only eclipsed by the number of names made up for methods to induce it - all referring to the same thing: rhythmic auditory stimuli. No, better not call it that, in this paper its gonna be sinusoidal amplitude modulation, click trains, acoustic iterance, isochronous auditory stimuli, temporal sound... So, it gets a bit crazy when you try to search for this stuff (so we'll be adding even more to our bibliography/research library soon. Let me know if you haven't seen that yet). For the sake of this post let's just call it Entrainment. Something that's also being figured out is how to define when exactly Frequency Following ends and Entrainment begins. Some say it doesn't matter, others say it's when the phase lines up, or if the new rhythm persists even when the external stimuli is removed, as in the article I linked you to. There's also ways to approximate the root source of a neural rhythm (external or internal), if you also feed the stimuli into the analysis at the same exact time. Anyway, to sum it up, what we're doing is creating a rhythmic stimuli that resembles frequencies already in your brain. We play that stimuli long and consistently enough to actually register a pretty solid response on an EEG. Of course, it gets more complicated than that. This is the brain we're talking about. The waveform of the audio modulations matters (brainwaves aren't perfect sine waves, after all), the way the frequency is changed over time matters. When do you take a break from the stimulation? When do you tone it down, or turn it up? And how do you adapt to people on an individual level? How do you measure it? Audio processing can change dramatically in the brain depending on the content of the audio! But at any rate, changing the brainwaves of a person like this can also change their mental state. I'm not saying it takes over the brain. It just.. nudges it a bit in the right direction. So that's the basic outline from that perspective. Hope it makes sense, of course if you have any questions don't hesitate. 2) Brain.fm: The Music Perspective From an audio's point of view, we're doing a number of things to subtly create that necessary rhythmic stimulus. a) We're modulating every piece of audio. It's these modulations that create a rapid rhythmic stimulus. If you listen carefully to Brain.fm, you may hear a fluttering sound. It's more obvious in some parts over others. We're using filtering techniques to target some frequency bands over others (and by frequency here, I'm now talking about the frequencies of pitch, not brainwaves, where a cello would be low and a violin would be high in frequency). Doing this, we can single out instruments, modulate parts of a nature soundscape but not others, or disguise the modulations as vibrator, tremolo, or the natural vibrations of instruments, strings or the LFOs of electronic music.. b) We align everything else in the session to the brain-frequency we're trying to hit, so there is no interference from a stray drum beat or a snapping twig. Not only is there no interference, but the entire audio "scene" is being actively used to guide your brain toward the goal state. The 3D audio also factors into this a lot, because the mind pays attention to motion, and that helps elliminate habituation. But that's another story. Hope this helped explain it. Completely understand if you need clarification, or an entirely new answer hah! :) - Adam from Brain.fm
• lettergram 11y ago
  My startup built basically the same thing, but if you had an eeg it would also learn your preferances and iterativly improve. We called it BrainBeats: http://synaptitude.me/blog/brainbeats-your-new-music-player/ http://synaptitude.me/blog/brainbeats-your-new-music-player/ Startup: http://synaptitude.me http://synaptitude.me
• dclark5218 11y ago
  I have to say, I tried this as something that has always piqued my interest - using sounds and music to make me a more efficient human. I was skeptical, I put it to the test while coding. Within 10 minutes I felt a strange calm hum in my head and have now been using it for 2 hours with no sign of dropoff. Very cool, going to keep using. If this continues like it did tonight, I could see this becoming part of my daily work routine.
• jkalmadi 11y ago
  Hey all! cofounder of brain.fm here. Wowza :O We had zero clue that we would hit front page of hn (the spike! https://imgur.com/RpUvpiH.png https://imgur.com/RpUvpiH.png). Thanks for the upvote love! Here's some deets on brain.fm: == MOST COMMON USE CASE - Background music while focussing (i.e. coding, working, studying, creative work) == SCIENCE - We actively study the relationship between music and the brain via our lead neuroscientist at Northwestern University (2 pilot studies via EEGs on brain.fm, on focus: https://goo.gl/t2qPPb https://goo.gl/t2qPPb, on sleep: https://goo.gl/i324Zj https://goo.gl/i324Zj). We're also working the with the Team USA Olympic wresting team (via coach Matt Lindland). Hoping to have the research case study live soon :) == REVIEWS - "It feels like your headphones are giving you a mild dose of Ritalin." ^ Hustle (https://goo.gl/Quzwsd https://goo.gl/Quzwsd) "Brain.fm has had a radical effect on my focus and mental clarity." ^ AppSumo (check out 290+ reviews https://appsumo.com/brainfm https://appsumo.com/brainfm) "One of the cool things about Brain.fm is that you can try it for a few minutes and immediately reap the benefits." ^ Product hunt (see: https://producthunt.com/tech/brain-fm https://producthunt.com/tech/brain-fm + https://goo.gl/6aYiDK https://goo.gl/6aYiDK) "I press play, my brain switches into super focus mode. It genuinely feels like I’ve taken a double-dose of my ADHD meds at times." ^ Smart girls with ADHD (see: https://goo.gl/VQx3XT https://goo.gl/VQx3XT) Reddit discussion thread ^ see: https://reddit.com/3s0sq1 https://reddit.com/3s0sq1 == SPECIAL OFFER :) I'd like to share the hn community a '$25 for life' deal. (usually it's $149 for lifetime, $7 for monthly and yearly for $48). Link: https://brain.fm/hackernews https://brain.fm/hackernews == Happy to answer any questions! Junaid
• d0mdo0ss 11y ago
  :( no mention of JM Jarre. Here are some oldies but goodies Oxygene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE9jShG9sD0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE9jShG9sD0 Magnetic fields https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzXZ_NFVrg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzXZ_NFVrg
• davnn 11y ago
  I'm sure there are huge personal differences. I have tried a lot of different sounds until now, but I cannot imagine listening to one type of sound over a period more than two weeks. Variety works for me and keeps me happy at work which is as important as being productive alone. Productivity will not last long without happiness. Variety works for me.
  • ahewett 11y ago
    Completely agree! Did you register for an account? If you do, it'll notice which ones you've listened to before and give you more variety. Also you can go to "Explore" and pick something you want. There's techno, classical, irish, spacey-ambient, electronic-symphonic combos, bunch of different nature sounds, indian music, mongolian chants, etc... I'll be adding a lot more music soon too. :) We definitely need to work on the barrier-to-entry that the survey creates. Sorry about that. Working on it. - Adam from Brain.fm
    • davnn 11y ago
      I didn't, just read about it. I will definitely give it a try when I'm back home!
• option_greek 11y ago
  It doesn't seem as good as http://musicforprogramming.net/ http://musicforprogramming.net/
  • fit2rule 11y ago
    I concur - although that may be because I've been a huge fan of musicforpgramming.net for years, and find it an immensely valuable tool. That said, this HN thread has an awesome resource of other new music to listen to ..
• cpeterso 11y ago
  I like the White Noise Meditation albums. Some tracks are literally just white noise or pink noise. It is much more relaxing than it sounds! :) http://whitenoisemeditation.bandcamp.com/ http://whitenoisemeditation.bandcamp.com/
• nitrogen 11y ago
  The customization popup seems a bit too aggressive. The first sound I tried was cool, but I want to hear two or three different example programs before I invest any amount of time into the site. I like the concepts of generated music and brainwave entrainment, but I want to hear at least one sample from each category.
• caglar 11y ago
  Here is a perfect list of focus music playlist by GURUs
• netgusto 11y ago
  This is awesome. I was using https://rain.simplynoise.com/ https://rain.simplynoise.com/ as a whitenoise generator, and some Spotify focus playlists. Been using brain.fm for 1h now, and I'm loving it :) Thanks !
• akerro 11y ago
  This is great, I nearly felt asleep before going to work!
• jwl 11y ago
  Really like the intense focus music. Seems to work really well for me. However I am not a fan of the nature based ones. The nature sounds comes of as too artificial. I might consider buying something like this, but not sure if I think a monthly subscription is worth it. Could there be a market for making an "album" with 10 generated songs in a category?
• sta11man 11y ago
  Bollox! Music is meant to be played live. Recordings are there to re-create some particular (including studio) performance. It's bloody art, man! Generating music for listening purposes is absolute utter bullshit, period.
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• jiraaya 11y ago
  Would love to understand how this tool overcomes sensory gating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_gating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_gating
• anentropic 11y ago
  AI generated "music" to improve focus, relaxation and sleep there, fixed that for you
  • runeb 11y ago
    How do you define music, then?
• unsignedint 11y ago
  I signed up for lifetime :-) It would be cool if I can Chromecast this. (A little easier to connect headphones to my sound receiver than sleeping right next to my PC...)
• illogikal 11y ago
  Marconi union has always worked very well for me. The weightless album in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKsEqFgKhoA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKsEqFgKhoA
• timwaagh 11y ago
  its interesting. definitely something i would use. but not something i would pay for. why not have an ad-supported version for those who care about their wallets?
• StapleHorse 11y ago
  I'so bookmarking this thread :) I use to listen Digitally Imported streams. It offers very fine granularity in electronic styles, like (ambient, lounge, chillout dreams, space dreams). Very nice for background music doing stuff. Also, Amethystium is very nice for relaxing.
• PSeitz 11y ago
  Makes rather tired than focused
• hugofirth 11y ago
  I know you probably have more important things on your roadmap about now :), but any plans to support media keys (Pause, Skip etc...)? Perhaps using something like http://www.sway.fm/api http://www.sway.fm/api
• pawurb 11y ago
  Just subscribed. Thanks for the hackernews discount.
• justsaysmthng 11y ago
  My cat is totally mesmerized by the "Intense Focus" stream. He's laying here in an absolute trance state .. haven't seen him like this.. He enjoys music a lot and often sits near the speaker and listens to music, but this stream seems to be doing something to him, because he's really tripped out :). I also enjoy it , so you've definitely have something there. Great stuff ! I'd really like a mac app though - maybe it's just me, but I really dislike listening to music from the browser - I like my music app to be distinct and accessible from the OS. @Adam from Brain.fm: I could give a helping hand with the Mac app if you're interested ?
• robinduckett 11y ago
  Put on intense focus and promptly fell straight to sleep at my desk.
• mattdlondon 11y ago
  I found the intense focus music (and the "white noise"/hissing in it) to be really, really grating and kinda put me on-edge while listening. I also found the repetitiveness/predictability of the rhythm to be troubling - I'd end up focusing on the noise and thinking about "what was coming next" to be ultra-distracting. Kinda like when you have a noisy neighbor at night and you are just trying to get to sleep, but all you can focus on is the noise coming from your neighbor. You cant switch off - all you can do is focus on the noise. Personally nothing beats rainymood.com for focus for me, but thanks for sharing. I guess I am different as everyone else seems to think this is effective.
  • noyesno 11y ago
    Rainymood is excellent! I typically combine it with "Midnight Radio" by Bohren & Der Club of Gore - They mix perfectly.
• bad-joke 11y ago
  Just curious: why is this program not recommended for people using a pacemaker?
• pmontra 11y ago
  "Those who fit into any of the above categories, whether knowingly or not, should not use this application." (Emphasis mine) Doesn't that "or not" invalidates all the disclaimer? How could they enforce that clause in a court?
• cyanbane 11y ago
  Some awesome suggestions on here. Also wanted to note: http://raining.fm http://raining.fm http://www.power85.com/ http://www.power85.com/ http://poolside.fm/ http://poolside.fm/
• vijucat 11y ago
  3 suggestions: "Library Background Noise for Relaxation" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTm2oQRsISk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTm2oQRsISk "DISTANT TRAINS ECHOING IN THE RAIN.. Relaxing SoundScape to help Sleep, Study & Meditate" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTXoxV-MFMo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTXoxV-MFMo "One Hour of HQ Coffee Shop Background Noise" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdLmxy06H0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdLmxy06H0 brain.fm is great, too! But honestly, silence + just getting into the groove works best. Minimizing distractions is key. Unfortunately, nothing beats late nights at meeting these criteria.
  • ahewett 11y ago
    Those are great! And glad you like Brain.fm as well :) To my great surprise, silence is actually the worst performer in our research and for other researchers I've talked to. check out our focus study, and also if you hit the "more" button you can see a kind of bibliography (that we need to organize better). Silence can be a distraction in itself. Counter-intuitive, I know. I actually think I remember an article about this popping up in my news feed recently, trying to explain why. I was in a hurry so couldn't really read it, but I'll try to find it again after all this craziness dies down :) But anyway, everyone's different, and different situations call for different tools. When the noise level is just too high for me (like, construction outside, vacuuming, etc) I use those crazy earmuffs meant for gun ranges. A shopvac could be right next to your ear and you wouldn't notice hah
• jonaf 11y ago
  Is there any real science to this? Can someone provide legitimate references? I tried this last time it was on HN. It felt like a hoax; I was less focused because the sounds were less calming than the air conditioning in the office, and because the trial repeats after about 10 minutes.
  • tarblog 11y ago
    My first thought was Lumosity [1]. I'd love for these claims to be real, but I'm just not willing to believe claims like these until I see a significant result in a randomized controlled trial. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumosity#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumosity#Effectiveness
    • ahewett 11y ago
      We did a randomized controlled trial :) https://www.brain.fm/pdfs/EEGFocusAnalysis.pdf https://www.brain.fm/pdfs/EEGFocusAnalysis.pdf It's pending publication, but it'll get there. And now we have enough info to start a double blind. Sleep one is also pending publication. The HRV (stress/anxiety) trial is already published, and was completely independent. We didn't even know about it until it was published. There's more in the science section too. I remember when that Lumosity BS came out. We'd been around for 4 years already at that point. Now that it's finally us taking off, we're pouring everything into the science. We're going to do this right. (oh, sorry, I just realized I'd already replied to you above. I'll leave this here though, for anyone who's interested)
      • lighttower 11y ago
        Hi Adam, I love that you did an RCT. What journal did this get published in? I've been using Brain.FM since yesterday, first with speakers in another room, then with speakers in my office and separated by about 2m, and finally today with Bose noise canceling headphones (I can kind of hear the 3d effect, but it is vastly outweighed by my ears overheating in the headphones). I liked #2 the best; some tracks the 3d effect was pronounced. I tend to like the percussion tracks a lot more --- going back to the webpage to skip etc is a pain. Why not provide a list of effects that you can select from and if I hate violin (bad example) then I can exclude tracks that use it. In the past I've used rain / thunderstorm recordings. I have a Marpac noise machine with a actual mechanical fan inside. I found that machine great for sleep - but then I had a baby and she confiscated it for her own use :-)
• leafac 11y ago
  Hi, Adam (ahewett). I tried getting in touch via the website's "Contact Us" link. But apparently the form is broken due to your email server verifying DMARC records. Please, get in touch with me via brain-fm@leafac.com.
• autotravis 11y ago
  I've been working (programming) to this album lately: http://pza420.bandcamp.com/album/friends http://pza420.bandcamp.com/album/friends Nice and mellow, but not boring.
• martindevans 11y ago
  I just tried this and really liked it. However the sign up process seems totally broken. Each screen of the process asks 3 questions and seems to completely freeze up the entire browser tab (latest chrome) for about 30 seconds.
• 6stringmerc 11y ago
  After a quick little look through the Terms of Service... >IT IS ALSO SOLELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO EVALUATE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, USEFULNESS OR VALIDITY OF ALL OPINIONS, ADVICE, SERVICE, PROMOTIONS, ADVERTISEMENTS, AWARDS, PRIZES OR OTHER INFORMATION, AND THE QUALITY AND MERCHANTABILITY OF ALL SERVICES AND/OR MERCHANDISE, PROVIDED BY OR THROUGH BRAIN.FM. BRAIN.FM MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR ENDORSEMENTS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED AS TO THE ACCURACY, QUALITY, COMPLETENESS, NON‑INFRINGEMENT, OWNERSHIP, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR OTHERWISE OF ANY INFORMATION, GOODS OR SERVICES ACCESSED THROUGH BRAIN.FM. I guess this is a helpful disclaimer in many ways, because this allows me to presume that all their claims are invented, all their peer reviews are suspect, and that their entire product line is inferior to a generic recording of waves hitting the beach, crickets at night, or a babbling brook.
  • cLeEOGPw 11y ago
    This belongs to the same drawer as binaural beats.
  • ahewett 11y ago
    It's just a standard TOS, man. Here's the Terms Of Service for Yale: I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING ANY WRITTEN CONFIRMATION STATEMENTS PROVIDED TO ME (ON PAPER OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM) REGARDING ANY INSTRUCTIONS, CHOICES, OR REQUESTS THAT I MAKE THROUGH THIS WEB SITE. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING FOR INACCURACIES ALL OF THE INFORMATION TRANSMITTED TO ME. IF THERE ARE INACCURACIES, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR CORRECTING THEM USING THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO ME ON THE WEB SITE OR BY CONTACTING THE BENEFITS CENTER TO POINT THEM OUT. Here's Amazon: AMAZON ATTEMPTS TO BE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, AMAZON DOES NOT WARRANT THAT PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS OR OTHER CONTENT OF ANY AMAZON SERVICE IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE. IF A PRODUCT OFFERED BY AMAZON ITSELF IS NOT AS DESCRIBED, YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO RETURN IT IN UNUSED CONDITION. And here's Pfizer: PFIZER MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND AS TO THE ACCURACY, CURRENCY, OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN SUCH WEB SITES AND SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES OR INJURIES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM SUCH CONTENT OR INFORMATION. I mean, I can talk to my lawyer about changing it if you really think it's that bad. :)
• sebringj 11y ago
  I get a little uncanny valley from listening to this.
• Paradigma11 11y ago
  I love it. My only suggestion would be, more lastfm and less khan academy.
• sharmi 11y ago
  I find age of mythology soundtracks work very well too
• gsantostasi 11y ago
  My name is Giovanni Santostasi. I have a PhD in Physics and I work in the field of neuroscience of sleep at Northwestern University, in particular I'm interested in slow wave sleep. I'm also the leading neuroscientist at brain.fm. Slow wave sleep is the deepest stage of sleep and it is fundamental for learning and cognition (and several other physiological functions like getting rid of toxins in the brain, metabolism and hormonal regulation). Slow wave sleep is one of the most regular rhythmic brain state. It is easy to recognize using an EEG system because it produces very regular bursts of large amplitude and relatively slow oscillations, called slow waves (with a frequency of about 1 Hz). This is one of the most active fields in neuroscience right now. Many experiments in labs around the world have shown that the amplitude of these oscillations are strongly correlated with learning activity during the day. Also performance on cognitive tasks in particular related to memory are strongly correlated with the amplitude of the slow waves. Scientists tried to understand if slow waves were just an epiphenomenon, i.e. if they were the indicators of a fundamental physiological principle or they had a causative role, i.e. if by generating slow waves the brain caused physiological changes that helped the process of memory consolidation in the brain (making memory long stable over long term). Therefore in the last 10 years scientists tried to modify the slow waves using external stimulation. The used initially transcranial direct current stimulation tDCs and obtain amazing results. By creating currents that oscillated at a frequency close to the typical frequency of slow waves (about 1 Hz) they were able to enhance the amplitude of the waves. What was even more amazing that the enhancement in amplitude changed the memory performance of the study participants in a standard memory tests relatively to a sham condition. The change were not just statistical significant but quite dramatic (they enhanced by 20-30 percent the natural benefit in memory due to sleep alone). The results were published in Nature, the most prestigious science journal. In our lab we reproduced and in fact improved these results using acoustic stimulation (using short burst of pink noise synchronized with the brain oscillations during sleep). This and many other experiments repeated in many labs around the world show clearly that the relationship between mental states and brain rhythms is bidirectional, brain states create brain rhythms, but brain rhythms bring the brain to particular brain states. The field of brain stimulation is relatively new in neuroscience as a very active, promising and in fact revolutionary area of research. Sleep is just one area but people are exploring using rhythmic brain stimulation how to increase attention, information processing, improve mood and cognition in older people, helping with ADD. It is unfortunate that in the last decades the idea of using brain waves to enhance brain function has been appropriated by charlatans and new agers. But right now brain rhythms are making a huge come back as a legit scientific study that is bringing break throughs almost on a daily basis. At brain.fm we are simply using the knowledge of this new field of science to improve people well being. We are moving the knowledge from the lab to people daily life. We are not claiming to have a magical tool to enhance focus, attention, sleep. We are doing what good scientists do. Experimenting, trying different things and using the scientific method and an evidence based approach to determine what works and what doesn't work. I believe we are doing much better than most companies in the industry of neuroscience commercial applications because we are focused on testing with scientific means our technology and prove ourselves wrong before we make any claim. When we do is because we see noticeable effects and reasonable repeatability of our findings. I notice several criticisms about the small sample size of our studies. I have to clarify that this is very typical size for pilot experiments that are trying to test new approaches in brain stimulation and other physiological studies in general. The Nature paper I mentioned for tDCs and slow wave sleep had about 17 subjects. Also the p=0.05 as statistical threshold is something that is used all the time in the biomed field. Being a physicist it took me sometime to get adjusted to such small significance (in comparison with what we consider significant in physics) but it is understandable given the complexity of living systems and the great variability in human physiology. And how many companies you know in this industry that can back up their claims with any study at all? Or are interested in testing, experimenting, learning from their mistakes and improve their products continuously from what is learned? We accept your criticism as an input for pushing ourselves in doing better and creating even better products. Be part of this experiment in human enhancement and let us know what you think. Thank you, Giovanni
• deleted 11y ago
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• silviu_istrate 11y ago
  I got intrigued by your post and I searched deeper to find tested solutions for relaxation trough music Can anyone tell me if they tried these products: - Schumann Meditation https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/secrets-of-schumann-meditation-7-83-hz https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/secrets-o... - Zen meditation music https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/secrets-of-zen-meditation-zen-music https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/secrets-o... - Mental Waves to overcome insomnia https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/how-to-overcome-insomnia https://www.mental-waves-for-happiness.com/product/how-to-ov... Your advices are very appreciated.
• vbezhenar 11y ago
  I use this service for a few days and I can say that Intense Focus helped me to concentrate. Might be placebo effect, but as long as it works, I don't really care. I'll definitely use it. Now thinking about buying sleepphones to try sleep sound. I don't have problems with sleep, but everything could be perfected.