What is a light and sound mind machine?
These consist of a pair of opaque goggles with built-in flashing lights, and normally a pair of headphones with synchronized beeping sounds. Studies have shown that if the flashing lights and beeping sounds start at something close to your current “dominant frequency” and then slowly change the “beat frequency” it “entrains” your brain to the desired frequency. So for example, if you entrain to alpha frequencies, you experience some of the same benefits as experienced meditators. Additionally, almost all users report some kind of hallucinations from the flashing lights; mostly colored moire patterns, but some people see detailed hallucinatory scenes. And, of course, many of the same effects as hemisynch can be achieved by the sound synthesizers in a light and sound mind machine. Alternatively, most of the better light and sound mind machines include sound inputs so you can mix the headphone synthesizers with your choice of music, environmental, or HemiSynch-like tapes or compact disks.
