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There are plenty of so called Audio-Visual-Stimulation (AVS) tools you can buy on the market (used to be called Psychowalkman). They usually claim that it can stimulate brain with sound/visualization to increase mental abilities such as ability to learn, help with sleep problems, headaches and much more.

So I am wondering, does this really work? And by this I mean, is there really ANY such device which can be demonstrated to work? Focus of this question is on the devices themselves, however it might be questionable whether the AVS mechanism works by itself...

I could not find a study that would prove/disprove this. The manufactures usually refer some articles that itself talk about some very specific property of the brain to adapt to audio/visual waves, but I find that weak, since this does not show that what they sell actually utilizes this feature (could be device that randomly creates noise/sound as far as i can tell). They also refer to some celebrities that are using the tool, other thing that seems suspicious. Even if lots of people are claiming it helped them in a way, how do I know it isn't a placebo effect?

So I guess one question is if this can work based on current knowledge? And if yes, does it actually work with devices one can buy?

Edit: Adding examples. First is site http://www.smarterway.com/AVS-MindsEye.html. It states there:

Modern scientific research has verified this phenomenon: brain activity becomes more active or more quiet in response to external rhythms of light and sound.

Another one http://www.mindmachines.com/

Mind Machines specializes in providing theraputic tools for relaxation, enhanced learning, mind power, biofeedback, neurofeedback, high tech meditation and personal achievement.

...

By presenting beats and pulses to the brain, the brain begins to mimic or follow the same frequencies. This process is referred to as entrainment. In essence, these instruments speak to the mind in it’s own language – the language of frequency.

  • Please add some example links and quotes. –  Sep 23 '16 at 17:47
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    Added few, isn't that an advertising though? :) –  Sep 23 '16 at 18:41
  • @Sil is your question about mind machines or AVS? – Sakib Arifin Dec 10 '16 at 18:54
  • @MohammadSakibArifin Hm I thought those are two names for the same thing. Is there a difference? –  Dec 11 '16 at 01:04
  • @Sil Mind Machine is a physical device based on AVS. AVS is a method used on many machines not just mind machines. – Sakib Arifin Dec 13 '16 at 06:54
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    @MohammadSakibArifin To clarify, this question is about the devices, if any such device works this way. So in principle it should be enough to show that AVS works by itself, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of those that are sold are random sound/visual simulations generators (thats why i mention if ANY such device works). I will update the question to clarify this. –  Dec 15 '16 at 10:55
  • I am highly skeptical of the claims on those pages, they use a lot of the same vague phrasing as other scam/placebo devices like "balance bracelets" and "ion-infused copper" and stuff like that. "Mind machine" does have a page on wikipedia with a good deal of references, I don't have time to go through and see if it is legit or not, might be a good starting point for research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_machine – BradC Dec 15 '16 at 23:12
  • I was at a presentation of a very capable, passionate doctor who has helped thousands of people with this technology. She has been trying for YEARS to perform a proper double blind study, but she's unable to get funding for it. The study is ready to start, all she needs is money. This is the true reason why you only see small scale studies, so keep that in mind before dismissing its effectiveness. – kregus Jul 22 '21 at 16:44

2 Answers2

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Do Audio-Visual-Stimulation/Psychowalkman/Mind Machine devices work?

Various scientific studies indicate that Audio Visual Stimulation does work. According to this paper, several studies have shown that Audio Visual Stimulation improves IQ, behaviour, attention, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, ODD and reading level.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are unique attentional disorders which primarily involve slowed frontal brain wave activity and hypo-perfusion of cerebral blood flow in the frontal regions, particularly during tasks such as reading.

A variety of disorders, such as anxiety, depression and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), are often co-morbid with ADD, thus creating a plethora of complications in treatment procedures. Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE) lends itself well for the treatment of ADD/ADHD. AVE exerts a major wide spread influence over the cortex in terms of dominant frequency. AVE has also been shown to produce dramatic increases in cerebral blood flow.

Several studies involving the use of AVE in the treatment of ADD/ADHD and its related disorders have been completed. AVE as a treatment modality for ADD/ADHD has produced wide-spread improvements including secondary improvements in IQ, behaviour, attention, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, ODD and reading level. In particular, AVE has proven itself to be an effective and affordable treatment of special-needs children within a school setting.

This study says:

These days mind power techniques are very effective to stimulate the cognitive aspects of an individual. These techniques could be very much effective for the teenagers to achieve their goals in the life because today is the world of competition and every individual wants to go for higher profiles. So this path of Light-Sound stimulation seems to be the best for the teenagers.

A sample of 120 students was selected from teenage group i.e. 13 to 19 years of both sexes belonging to middle socio-economic status by purposive random sampling technique. The experimental condition was further divided into three experimental groups and was administered three different treatments of mind power techniques i.e. sound, light and light-sound through mind power music and mind machines.

The scores of Intelligence showed a significant difference between the entire experimental groups and control group. The maximum score was observed for Light-Sound stimulation followed by light and sound stimulation.

I found some other studies (this, this and this) that also says AVS works.

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  • The first study also has no comparable control group, and has only six participants. The authors themselves say: "We can not exclude a possibility that certain contributions to increased relaxation effects could come from repetitive relaxation training itself, regardless of the use of AVS. Subjects might adapt gradually to experimental conditions and develop some progress reflected in trends of studied measures." (They note that their subjects sometimes fell asleep during the treatment; it's not surprising that their brain activity changed.) – ff524 Dec 15 '16 at 09:53
  • Your "visual search improvements in hemianopic patients" study has nothing to do with the claims of the question. It's not about "special" frequency affecting brain waves; it's about a treatment in which patients do what are basically "eye exercises", and small lights were lit up in sequence so that patients would shift their gaze to them. – ff524 Dec 15 '16 at 10:06
  • @ff524 That's why I cited multiple studies to demonstrate that AVS does work. – Sakib Arifin Dec 15 '16 at 10:07
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    You have not yet cited a single _controlled_ study, i.e. one with a control group. You seem to be just searching for any "study" that confirms what you want to find (that it works), and then citing it without actually reading and understanding it (as in the totally irrelevant "visual search improvements in hemianopic patients" study), and without evaluating potential flaws in the study design that could compromise the conclusions. – ff524 Dec 15 '16 at 10:11
  • @ff524 Reread the title question: "Do Audio-Visual-Stimulation/Psychowalkman/Mind Machine devices work?" and that's what I am addressing. If you think the question needs improvements, ask the original questioner to improve it. – Sakib Arifin Dec 15 '16 at 10:15
  • @ff524 And I didn't find any controlled study. If you can find one, write an answer quoting that. – Sakib Arifin Dec 15 '16 at 10:18
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    I think this answer needs improving, not the question. This answer makes the claim that audio-visual stimulation works by citing (1) a study that is _completely irrelevant_ because the treatment it describes is nothing like the audio-visual stimulation referenced in the question, and (2) some studies with small sample sizes and no control groups, without noting these deficiencies. – ff524 Dec 15 '16 at 10:20
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    An _honest_ answer might say something like: "These studies have found some effects following treatment with AVS, but their conclusions have not been validated in a study with a control group, so it is impossible to rule out placebo effect or other experimental conditions as the reason for the treatment 'working'." Then go on to cite only the studies that are actually about the thing described in the question. – ff524 Dec 15 '16 at 10:21
  • @ff524 Does the update meet your criteria? And thanks for the comments. I love being proven wrong. – Sakib Arifin Dec 16 '16 at 19:11
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    That "The Impact of Light-Sound Stimulation on Intelligence in Teenagers" study is really bad junk science. They claim to have a control group, but they don't say what "placebo" treatment is administered to the control group. I suspect there was none, so they have not ruled out placebo effect. Worse, there is no mention of blinding, and the instrument they use to measure "intelligence" includes subjective assessments by the person administering the test, who presumably knew what treatment group the subject was in. Not good! – ff524 Dec 16 '16 at 19:19
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    Here is a critical review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0027030/ "The authors concluded that preliminary evidence suggested that brainwave entrapment was an effective therapeutic tool, but further research was required. The evidence presented appeared to justify the recommendation for further research. In view of the lack of controlled evidence and problems with methodology and reporting in the review, the authors’ conclusions regarding efficacy did not appear reliable." – TsSkTo Dec 16 '16 at 19:22
  • The "Applying Audio-Visual Entrainment Technology for Attention and Learning" link looks like an overview of existing work, not original research. I'm not really in the mood to track down and read the details of the studies it mentions. Why don't you do that? Look at the design of the study and evaluate its credibility. Was there a control group, and was it really comparable? What placebo was administered to the control group? Was the study blinded? Do the instruments used to measure the effect involve subjective assessments? What was the sample size? Etc. – ff524 Dec 16 '16 at 19:25
  • Also pay attention to the details of the kind of audio visual stimulation in the study. Is it really comparable to what the machines the OP is asking about do? A study in which participants listen to music, or recordings of nature sounds, does not say anything about the effectiveness of machines that produce tones at certain frequencies. – ff524 Dec 16 '16 at 19:29
  • @ff524 The second study is quite spot on and is about mind machines. – Sakib Arifin Dec 16 '16 at 19:32
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    The researchers, who knew which treatment the subject got, gave the subject an "intelligence" score that includes the researcher's subjective opinion of the subject's alertness, etc during the test. It's junk science. – ff524 Dec 16 '16 at 20:26
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I read the papers that Mohammad Sakib Arifin cited in this answer but I came to a different conclusion, so I thought I would write another answer.

I found that the "research" on this subject is lacking a controlled, blinded study with a reasonable sample size. Without these basic elements of study design, it's easy to reach wrong conclusions due to effects that have nothing to do with the "treatment", e.g.: placebo effect, subject tries harder on the "post-test" knowing that he was part of the experimental group, researcher gives subject a higher score on a subjective "intelligence" test knowing that she is part of the experimental group...

Therefore, while I cannot definitely say that these devices do not work, I can say that the research I have seen cited in support of their capabilities is suspect.

Here are the papers I looked at (thanks to Mohammad Sakib Arifin), and the problems I found:

In The Impact of Light-Sound Stimulation on Intelligence in Teenagers, there is no mention of what treatment the "control" group got, so it's impossible to say whether the researchers really ruled out the placebo effect. (If the "control" group is just a group who also took the same "intelligence" tests and got no placebo treatment, then they have not ruled out the placebo effect.) Another major issue is that there is no mention of blinding - presumably, the researchers knew which treatment group each subject was in when evaluating their "improvement". This is especially troubling because the instrument used includes subjective components, e.g.

Performance is based not just on the accuracy of the drawings, but also on the examiner's observation of behaviour during the test, including such factors as attention level, self-criticism, and adaptive behavior

Another study, Use of Auditory and Visual Stimulation to Improve Cognitive Abilities in Learning-Disabled Children, was written by a psychologist in private practice, based on her experience with 30 clients. Again, there is no blinding, so the psychologist administering the instrument knows that the child has undergone the treatment (and most likely, also has a financial incentive to consider the treatment successful, because it's her practice!) Worse, there is no control group.

Another, EEG responses to long-term audio–visual stimulation, involved only six subjects, and no control group. The authors of the study note that the treatment was administered in a dim room and subjects sometime fell asleep - something that could, conceivably, also have caused the changes in brain activity that they observed. Without a control group who undergo a "placebo" treatment, it's impossible to tell.

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  • Nice explanation. I found seven studies regarding AVS and all of them agreed that it works even though most them had no control group differentiating placebo and other effects. I reached the conclusion that it works because I couldn't find any study that says the contrary. – Sakib Arifin Dec 17 '16 at 09:02
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    @MohammadSakibArifin To be honor I think it is better to stay unconvinced/undecided until there is sufficient evidence to prove or disprove this, otherwise we would have to believe everything by default and only stop believing after there is something contrary, which seems strange (by definition we would believe everything at first). In this case I think there is not yet a satisfactory answer, no one has proved/disproved this, so we don't know whether it is working so I would like to keep this open. Still though I'd like to divide the bounty for the effort, but not sure if that is doable :o –  Dec 17 '16 at 11:27