Beta waves (13–30 Hz)

An EEG records voltage changes produced by the brain. Analysing that signal by frequency gives a spectrum, and its slices are named with Greek letters. Beta is the slice at about 13 to 30 Hz, the widest of the five usually described.

These are the ranges Mind Journeys uses. Because beta is so wide, research often splits it into lower and upper beta, and sources draw its edges in slightly different places. As with every band, these are conventions for cutting a continuous spectrum.

Beta is faster and usually lower in amplitude than alpha: small, quick ripples rather than the slow, regular waves of eyes-closed rest. It rarely dominates a raw trace by eye, so analyses measure how much of the signal's power falls in the beta range, often relative to the other bands.

The eyes matter here too. In a study of 28 people at rest, opening the eyes reduced power across the scalp in every band measured, beta included (Barry et al., 2007), which is one reason resting comparisons always say whether the eyes were open or closed.

Alert, active thinking

Beta is the band conventionally associated with being awake, alert and engaged with something: reading, working through a problem, talking.

Holding a state

A widely cited review of beta research across cognition, movement and movement disorders proposes that beta-band activity seems related to the maintenance of the current sensorimotor or cognitive state, and that too much of it could make that state harder to change. That is a hypothesis about what beta does, not a settled finding, and it is one reason “more beta” is not the same as “more focus”.

These are observations of the EEG. None is evidence that a beta beat produces alertness.

A beta binaural beat is two steady tones, one in each ear, whose difference falls between 13 and 30 Hz: 220 Hz and 236 Hz give a 16 Hz beat. The beat is produced by the auditory system from two separate signals rather than being present in the air (Oster, 1973), so it needs stereo headphones. At beta rates it sounds less like a pulse and more like a fast roughness in the tone, and toward 30 Hz it approaches the upper limit of what is heard as a beat at all.

Calling it a beta beat describes the sound. Whether brain rhythms follow it is the contested part.

Beta is the usual range for focus audio: a background for studying, writing or any task that benefits from staying with it. A common shape climbs from alpha into beta over the first few minutes, holds there for a block of work, and eases down at the end, which some people use as a cue to take a break. It is often played quietly over wind, brown noise or no ambience at all.

These are descriptions of practice, not statements about what the audio produces.

The most direct beta study is small and old. In 1998, 29 participants did a 30-minute visual vigilance task on three days while listening to pink noise, with beta-range beats (16 and 24 Hz) on one day and theta and delta beats (1.5 and 4 Hz) on another. With the beta beats they made more correct detections and fewer false alarms, and reported less negative mood.

The pooled evidence is less tidy. A 2023 meta-analysis of 15 studies on memory and attention concluded that binaural beats improved both, but reported conflicting results for theta and beta on memory. A 2019 meta-analysis of 22 studies found that the direction and size of effects depended on the frequency used.

And the mechanism is disputed. A 2023 systematic review of fourteen EEG studies found five consistent with brain rhythms following the beat, eight contradicting it and one mixed, and advised treating attributed changes with caution.

The beta-specific evidence is one study of 29 people from 1998, on one vigilance task, comparing beta beats with slower ones. It has not become a body of replicated results.

Focus is hard to measure. Studies use particular tasks, such as spotting targets on a screen, and doing better on one task in a lab is not the same as getting more done at a desk.

Protocols are not comparable. Carrier frequency, exact beat frequency within beta, session length and what is layered underneath all differ between studies, which is a large part of why results disagree (Ingendoh et al., 2023).

And expectation matters. People who put on focus audio want to focus and expect it to help, and self-reported focus or mood moves with that expectation.

Ninety minutes on a 235 Hz carrier with wind through pines: a 25-minute climb from 10 Hz in alpha to 16 Hz in beta, a 55-minute hold, then an easing off to 12 Hz. Use stereo headphones; on speakers you hear the tones but not the beat.

More full-length journeys are on the Mind Journeys videos page.

Three of the built-in focus journeys work in beta, and all are free to play. All need stereo headphones.

Pine Clarity · 10 minutes · 10 → 16 Hz

On a 235 Hz carrier with wind through pines, the beat lifts from 10 Hz in alpha to 14 Hz over four minutes, climbs to 16 Hz over the next four, and eases to 15 Hz for the last two.

Flow Ramp · 20 minutes · 9 → 15 Hz

On a 240 Hz carrier over a light breeze, a slow twelve-minute ramp takes the beat from 9 Hz to 15 Hz, then holds at 15 Hz for eight minutes.

Deep Work · 25 minutes · 12 → 16 Hz

On a 240 Hz carrier with no ambience, the beat lifts from 12 Hz to 16 Hz over five minutes, holds at 16 Hz for a fifteen-minute block, then eases to 14 Hz over the last five. For a longer block that climbs on into gamma, see gamma waves and 40 Hz.

What are beta waves?

Beta is the name EEG research gives to brain activity at roughly 13 to 30 Hz. It is the band most associated with alert, active thinking and with the motor system. Like every band, it is a slice of a frequency analysis, not a mode the brain switches into.

What is the beta frequency range?

Mind Journeys, like most consumer sources, uses 13 to 30 Hz, with alpha below and gamma above. Research papers often split it further into low and high beta and draw the edges in slightly different places. The boundaries are conventions for cutting a continuous spectrum, not natural lines.

Are beta waves good or bad?

Neither. Beta is a normal part of the waking EEG. One influential review suggests beta activity is related to maintaining the current sensorimotor or cognitive state, and that too much of it could make that state harder to change. Neither more nor less beta is a goal in itself, and nothing here suggests audio should be used to change it.

Do beta binaural beats help you focus?

The evidence is thin. A 1998 study of 29 people found more correct detections and fewer false alarms on a 30-minute vigilance task with 16 and 24 Hz beats than with 1.5 and 4 Hz beats, plus less negative mood. A 2023 meta-analysis reported conflicting results for beta on memory. One small, old study is a reason for curiosity, not a reason to expect a result.

Is beta or gamma better for focus?

No research has ranked them. Beta is the band associated with alert, active thinking; gamma, above 30 Hz, is studied in perception and attention, and 40 Hz has its own line of research using light and pulsing sound rather than binaural beats. People pick one or the other as a background for focused work by preference.

• what alpha waves areThe relaxed, eyes-closed rhythm of waking rest, and the band most unwinding journeys hold in.
• what gamma waves and 40 Hz research areThe fastest band, why 40 Hz gets so much attention, and what the studies did and did not test.
• what a binaural beat is and how one is madeThe pillar explainer: the two tones, the perceived beat, and where the evidence currently stands.
• why binaural beats need stereo headphonesWhy speakers cancel the effect, what to listen on, and how loud is too loud.

Browse all guides — the binaural beat and brainwave explainers, grouped by topic.

1. Barry, R. J., Clarke, A. R., Johnstone, S. J., et al. (2007). EEG differences between eyes-closed and eyes-open resting conditions. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118(12), 2765–2773. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2007.07.028
2. Engel, A. K., & Fries, P. (2010). Beta-band oscillations — signalling the status quo? Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 20(2), 156–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2010.02.015
3. Oster, G. (1973). Auditory beats in the brain. Scientific American, 229(4), 94–102. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1073-94
4. Lane, J. D., Kasian, S. J., Owens, J. E., et al. (1998). Binaural auditory beats affect vigilance performance and mood. Physiology & Behavior, 63(2), 249–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00436-8
5. Basu, S., & Banerjee, B. (2023). Potential of binaural beats intervention for improving memory and attention: insights from meta-analysis and systematic review. Psychological Research, 87(4), 951–963. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01706-7
6. Garcia-Argibay, M., Santed, M. A., & Reales, J. M. (2019). Efficacy of binaural auditory beats in cognition, anxiety, and pain perception: a meta-analysis. Psychological Research, 83(2), 357–372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-1066-8
7. Ingendoh, R. M., Posny, E. S., & Heine, A. (2023). Binaural beats to entrain the brain? A systematic review of the effects of binaural beat stimulation on brain oscillatory activity, and the implications for psychological research and intervention. PLOS ONE, 18(5), e0286023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286023