The Effect of Binaural Beat Stimulation on State Anxiety of University Students

Abstract

Binaural beats have increasingly been explored as an alternative non-pharmacological intervention for anxiety. Yet, their role in facilitating recovery from acute stress in short induction basis is unclear. The present study examined the effects of short-term alpha frequency binaural beat induction on both physiological and self-reported measures of stress. A total of 120 participants were assessed in this experiment, with binaural beat as the experimental variable, white noise as the relative control, and no induction as the pure control. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and state anxiety scores were recorded at baseline, post-stress, and induction, and post-binaural beat intervention. Systolic blood pressure showed significant reductions, with the experimental group showing a far greater reduction than the control conditions. In contrast, state anxiety did not show reductions as strong as systolic blood pressure and came down to baseline, with trends being similar to the control conditions. The findings indicate that binaural beat stimulation may influence physiological aspects of stress recovery without a corresponding change in subjective experience. This suggests that both components of stress act independently in short-term contexts.