The document summarizes a symposium that explored how rhythmic music can alter brain function and potentially treat neurological conditions. Researchers have found that rhythmic stimuli can entrain brainwaves to slow or speed up their frequency, influencing mental states. Studies show rhythmic light and sound therapy improved concentration in children with ADHD and college students, as well as cognitive function in elderly adults. While still early research, advocates believe brainwave entrainment could be a low-cost, safe treatment for various disorders and brain damage recovery.

1. ! !
Stanford University News Service
425 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford, California 94306-2245
Tel: (650) 723-2558
Fax: 650) 725-0247
http://news.stanford.edu
NEWS RELEASE
May 31, 2006
Contact:
Barbara Palmer, News Service: (650) 724-6184, barbara.palmer@stanford.edu
Symposium looks at therapeutic benefits of musical rhythm
BY EMILY SAARMAN
Rhythmic music may change brain function and treat a range of neurological conditions,
including attention deficit disorder and depression, suggested scientists who gathered
with ethnomusicologists and musicians at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in
Music and Acoustics May 13. The diverse group came together for the one-day
symposium, "Brainwave Entrainment to External Rhythmic Stimuli: Interdisciplinary
Research and Clinical Perspectives," to share ideas that push the boundaries of our
understanding of the human musical experience.
Musicians and mystics have long recognized the power of rhythmic music. Ritual
drumming and rhythmic prayer are found in cultures throughout the world and are used
in religious ceremonies to induce trance states. But since the counterculture movement
of the 1960s, scientists have shied away from investigating the almost mystical
implications of musical rhythm, said symposium organizer Gabe Turow, a visiting
scholar in the Department of Music.
Recent interest in sleep, meditation and hypnosis research has spurred scientists to
take a closer look at music. A small but growing body of scientific evidence suggests
that music and other rhythmic stimuli can alter mental states in predictable ways and
even heal damaged brains.
"I think we've started using the right words to talk about these experiences, words that
kept everyone comfortable," Turow said.
Devices called electroencephalographs (EEGs) measure the electrical impulses in the
brain. Although EEG measurements cannot clearly discern spatial patterns, they resolve

2. the dominant frequencies of brainwave activity that are associated with conscious states
including concentration, anxiety and sleep.
"There is a growing body of neuroscientists who support the theory that if there's a
physical correlate of conscious experience, it has to be happening in the brainwaves. It
seems to be the only thing in your head that changes rapidly enough to explain real-
time changes in consciousness," Turow said.
Music with a strong beat stimulates the brain and ultimately causes brainwaves to
resonate in time with the rhythm, research has shown. Slow beats encourage the slow
brainwaves that are associated with hypnotic or meditative states. Faster beats may
encourage more alert and concentrated thinking.
Studies of rhythms and the brain have shown that a combination of rhythmic light and
sound stimulation has the greatest effect on brainwave frequency, although sound alone
can change brain activity. This helps explain the significance of rhythmic sound in
religious ceremonies.
"It's too easy to forget how fundamental rhythm is in so many things and how important
musical rhythm can be," said symposium participant Patrick Suppes, the Lucie Stern
Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Stanford, who studies brainwaves and language
cognition.
Harold Russell, a clinical psychologist and adjunct research professor in the Department
of Gerontology and Health Promotion at the University of Texas Medical Branch at
Galveston, used rhythmic light and sound stimulation to treat ADD (attention deficit
disorder) in elementary and middle school boys. His studies found that rhythmic stimuli
that sped up brainwaves in subjects increased concentration in ways similar to ADD
medications such as Ritalin and Adderall. Following a series of 20-minute treatment
sessions administered over several months, the children made lasting gains in
concentration and performance on IQ tests and had a notable reduction in behavioral
problems compared to the control group, Russell said.
"For most of us, the brain is locked into a particular level of functioning," the
psychologist said. "If we ultimately speed up or slow down the brainwave activity, then it
becomes much easier for the brain to shift its speed as needed."
Russell, whose study was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and included 40
experimental subjects, hopes to earn approval from the Food and Drug Administration
to use the brainwave entrainment device as a treatment for ADD. The device uses an
EEG to read brainwaves and then presents rhythmic light and sound stimuli through
special eyeglasses and headphones at a slightly higher frequency than the brain's
natural rhythm.
Thomas Budzynski, an affiliate professor of psychology at the University of Washington,
conducted similar experiments with a small group of underachieving college students at
Western Washington University. He found that rhythmic light and sound therapy helped
students achieve a significant improvement in their grades.
Budzynski also found that rhythmic therapy could improve cognitive functioning in some
elderly people by increasing blood flow throughout the brain. "The brain tends to groove
on novel stimuli," Budzynski explained. "When a novel stimulus is applied to the brain,
the brain lights up and cerebral blood flow increases." To maintain the high blood flow,
Budzynski used a random alternation of rhythmic lights and sounds to stimulate the

3. brains of elderly people. The result: Many of the seniors improved performance on an
array of cognitive tests.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that this increased blood flow also could help victims of
brain damage regain cognitive function. Russell used brainwave entrainment to help his
wife recover from a severe stroke. "One day she told me the fog went away," he said.
Neuroscientists caution that there is still a great deal to learn. "While these things are
intriguing, we haven't worked out the perceptual pathways in the brain for processing
hearing as well as we have for visual and sensory perception," said David Spiegel, the
Jack, Samuel and Lulu Willson Professor in Medicine at Stanford. "Figuring out this
entrainment is complicated by the fact that we need to learn more in general about how
the brain processes auditory stimuli."
Most music combines many different frequencies that cause a complex set of reactions
in the brain, but researchers say specific pieces of music could enhance concentration
or promote relaxation. "If we can get some reliable evidence from neuroscientists that
music therapy works, music is cheap and nearly anybody can get access to it," Russell
said.
Brainwave entrainment research is still in its infancy, but advocates hope that it may
prove a cheap, safe and effective way to treat a variety of neurological disorders from
depression to ADD and even prove invaluable in repairing brain damage.
"We may be sitting on one of the most widely available and cost effective therapeutic
modalities that ever existed," Turow said. "Systematically, this could be like taking a pill.
Listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as
medication, in many circumstances."
Jonathan Berger, chair of the Stanford Department of Music, said he was thrilled with
the free flow of ideas at the symposium. "There was no question by the end of the day
that this symposium is going to become a regular feature at Stanford," he said. "I'm
pretty confident that this will lead to a new research lab here." Berger also plans to
produce a book based on the research presented at the symposium.
Emily Saarman is a science-writing intern at Stanford News Service.
Comment:
Jonathan Berger, Department of Music: (650) 725-3101, brg@ccrma.stanford.edu
Editor Note:
Science-writing intern Emily Saarman wrote this release.
Related Information:
• Brainwave Entrainment to External Rhythmic Stimuli
To subscribe to our news releases:
Email news-service@lists.stanford.edu or phone (650) 723-2558.