ShortScale.org

Some of you guys might have seen the poast on Facebook.

I've been working on an app for iPhone and iPad for about two years now, using a combination of some of my more spacey/dreamy soundscapes and brainwave entrainment, basically the kind of technology we've seen in iDozer, AmbiSci, and other apps out there made to space people out. Korea's MC Square was a 1.5 million unit mega hit in the 90s and used the same technology of beats in repetition to stimulate certain brainwave frequencies, but theirs focused almost exclusively on alpha waves (around 10hz), which has been shown to be helpful in retaining information. I've personally been using the sessions from Transparent Corp's Neural Programmer for about 4 years now, and really believe in the subtle effects this stuff has to give your day a boost. I put a few thousand bucks in development and artwork, and it's exciting to finally see this things come out.

We've come up with three packages, all $1.99 each:

Dr. Sleep: for assisting in maintaining healthy sleep patterns and being more alert by day.
Diet & Fitness: Using mostly beta waves to stimulate brain activity prior to and during exercise.
Study Power: A comprehensive collection of focus/memory/brainstorm aiding frequencies good for us office folk too.

If any of you guys use iPhones and the link, please feel free to download the free version of Dr. Sleep, which includes one really heavy-duty sleep inducing theta to delta session plus one ambient tune and one nature BGM. If you'd like to help out even more and don't mind helping out, I'll sincerely and passionately covet your honest (er..more positive) review on the iTunes page. Free Version of Dr. Sleep link

With a squillion new apps coming out everyday, it's hard to go noticed, but a few minutes of shortscalers time and a little nudge from you guys will be of more help than I can express.

Here's my zero-budget iMovie vid, featuring my friend Blake and his wife Rami, plus Cindi and I. Excuse my silly voice, it was so early this morning that I did it in order to get a few press releases out by lunchtime...Gonna re-do with a few alternates:

[youtube][/youtube]

Andi! Awesome! I've investigated Binaurals and other BW entrainment tech since the mid 90's. Have used various programs since then and own a Proteus Light and Sound Machine which is pretty cool if old tech now.

Saying the following more for other readers as I'm sure you know about all this: I've always felt these things need an element of 'going with it' from the user in order to get the benefits - i.e it doesn't force your brain in those directions but if you go with it it will help you get there quickly even if you're unused to meditative practices. There's a hell load of research on the use of binaural and L&S on mediation.

It's also worth investigating the Monroe Institute named after the guy who first used Binaurals to help investigate and cause out of body exeriences. I've always found their way of producing the sounds to have more of a noticable effect than straight binaurals in white noise. Not sure what they did. I think I still have all the MP3 files so could send you a couple if interested but I think I got them from Soulseek.

I've also tried electrical stimulation of BWs via an Alpha-Stim unit, ostensibly an anxiety reducing tech, that stimulates ALpha waves. Now that is a direct hammer to the brain - it does it to you and you can feel it! Not sure it's for everyone though. Highest settings are pretty odd feeling. That being said the impact on generalized anxiety is clinically proven.

Used to make my own BW binaurals with a simple music program - setting two slightly different tone pitches in each ear and hearing the phantom binaural tone wobbling away...cool stuff.

Anyways I'll check the app out!

Two more things. Check out the Pzizz Energizer app - excellent concept with randomised ambient backgrounds and optional randomized hypnotic voice over by velvet voiced therapist Michael Breen. It's great and never the same.

And is that a Stetson Burney cap you're wearing? Looks like mine!!

Damn - requires iPhone 4 update! I guess I'll have to wait to upgrade.

Hope this goes well for you mate!

Dave wrote:Damn - requires iPhone 4 update! I guess I'll have to wait to upgrade.

Hope this goes well for you mate!

^this

This seems very interesting, well done for the hard work. I downloaded the free version and it looks cool.
I would just change the font of the explanations on the info screen to something more sleek, this one looks like an old school windows font. Also all words start with caps but timer, and volum misses the last letter.


I'll head for a nice review now.

Please keep us updated on how it goes!

PS. I have installed on 3GS, I dont think its iPhone4 specific app.

I've only got a 3G - but I'll try updating software on my PC - haven't updated the thing in months!

Thanks for checking things out, guys! And thanks riotshield for pointing out much of what went under the radar.

We've been mad promoting the thing here in Korea, starting with online "mommy cafes" for kids' education and the like a couple of months ago, and with the release we saw some considerable interest among them, which got us up to the top ten after the third day of release (Dr. Sleep peaked at #3 today on the Korea iTunes App store), and with some very positive reviews. The thing is, we hesitated with the Android market because of house easy it is to crack, but sheer local popularity of Galaxy S/SII/Wave usage(as well as in Europe) has prompted us to at least make the android version available rather soon. Won't know for sure how much we'll be able to cash in on things as of yet, but we're moderately optimistic to make enough to re-invest in our next series of products (more on that eventually!)

And it's interesting you mention the Monroe Institue, Dave. My first entrainment experience was with their pricey Hemi-sync introductory stuff, and although I found the descriptive language coming from the company a bit "flowery" and silly how esoteric they come off as being, the stuff really zaps you nicely. Very similar experience with Holosync as well, although I couldn't afford to spend a few more hundred bucks to go past the first few levels, and stopped after level 3. Binaurals are definitely more powerful if your brain can latch on, but we decided to go with isochronic because the monoaural sounds can be played anywhere comfortably without headphones.

But yeah, even the free version of Dr. Sleep has a really juicy session on it. I honestly am unable to feel comfortable enough to nap at work (even though we're very much allowed to), but I put on the Dr. Sleep intensive session while on the sofa in my studio workspace and got zapped for an entire hour. I also got a text message this morning from a close friend of mine who tried the super deep Healing Delta session from our Diet&Fitness app with the timer on when he went to bed last night.

I kid you not, this is what he wrote:

"Dude, you weren't lying about the healing sleep thing. I did 30 minutes while falling asleep last night. I slept great but couldn't wake up at all. But once I got up my head feel so clear. Crazy."

and then a few minutes later...

"I felt like someone was dry humping the inside of my head when I fell asleep...U should use that as a testimonial"

LEL.

I'm slightly ashamed to admit I just downloaded all the Monroe stuff. There's a lot of good stuff there but does get quite esoteric after a while and lost me a few levels in. Not that I'm opposed to esoteric ye understand, it just wasn't my bag. The first couple where you essentially do a standard relax and circulate the 'energy' is a tried and tested methodology though, and well worth it.

What is "isochronic because the monoaural sounds can be played anywhere comfortably without headphones." Not aware of this at all! Brain wave entrainment through sound but no headphones needed? I'm in! I'll google in a bit.

Woah, I would have no idea you had Monroe'd to that extent! Cool to hear you kinda know where I'm coming from with this stuff.



As for the debate between the two popular routes of audio entrainment, we chose isochronic for the "effectiveness wherever you go" factor. Just the same, we felt it good to have a few stereo (headphones required) sessions that have very different beats for each ear, very much designed to balance the brain's hemispheres as needed for more alpha and SMR-focused sessions, but for the most part I've been amazed how easy it is for the brain to "latch" to monophonic isochronic beats, simply because they're so much more audible than binaural ones.

Holosync's founder tends to dismiss the notion that isochronic beats are easier to latch, but the sheer convenience factor (no headphones required) and the point that you don't really have to roll off lower frequencies of one's ambient tracks in order to ensure that the beats are audible or don't clash with other sounds makes isochronic beats way more convincing as a functional entrainment tool.

I had a mate who made electronica and he'd embed the binaurals in the music and remove that frequency from the rest of the music - I.e the binaurals slotted into the gap. My understanding is the binaural can be virtually below the level of concious hearing but still be causing the phantom signal in the brain but my research doesn't extend any further than this which I read somewhere or other.

Other Brainwave entrainment I've looked into is Flicker via Brion Gysin's Dreammachine (as popularised by William Burroughs and Genesis P Orridge) shamanic stuff like Seidr (essentially body rocking to induce different states, not disimilar to a common mental health sympton - not my cuppa tea and bit too much cider drinking beardy pagan for my tastes).

One of the coolest things I've tried is with my proteus Light and Sound machine it's got a tech whereby CDs can be produced with sound on and the program for the light and sound is triggered by the CD according to some plan. There's one called Requiem which is suppose to get at the 'near death' experience or religious experience. It's pretty 'far out'. Apparently the flicker and binaural frequencies are based on the resonance of light given off by dying yeat cells or somesuch strangeness...

Lastly the other thing I briefly had a go on was the 'god helmet' by famous Scientist Michael Persinger. He's been studying the brain and it's role in religious experience for years. Dawkins hates him. Anyway the helmet zaps certain portions of the brain and people report all kinds of phenomena. I tried it for half an hour but didn't get much. Back to sound things like Tibetan singing bowls, the acoustic properties of ancient Greek and Neolithic structures (not to mention classical orchestras) and manta chanting can create brainwave entrainment.

Any way I waffle.

Grabbing this now, this is totally something I will benefit from at the moment!

Thanks a mill, Doog.

3Gs with the upgraded iOS should all run just fine for everyone of us iphonying about. Just a head-up: The featured single tune I wrote for the freebie version of Dr. Sleep is honestly a bit meh, so you might want to just put on the boop boop boops or nature track instead on really low volume to fall asleep.

Had a quick blast but didn't want to fall asleep at the desk, hahaha. Sounds good from what I heard, gotta love the brain-wobblies; will more than likely pick up the paid-for version.

I've got a fair bit of experience with relaxation/meditation/visualisation audio from my fun times as anxious wreck a number of years ago, will be very interested to see how this works out for me. I've been creeping back into old (mental) habits this summer and have apparently forgotten how to sleep for more than 5 hours, so fingers crossed!

Good work, Andi!

And Dave, you're right about the frequencies.

Quite honestly, binaurals can easily be placed well above 100hz if spaced just right, but the fact of the matter is that they can get downright annoying, and I totally understand why holosync set theirs quite low, to conceal the beats enough to be more rhythmic, rather than very noticeable tonal sounds. I just have to add that I actually bought Kontakt library of Tibetan bowls from Bolder Sounds on account of Holosync, for not only composition use but also for entrainment purposes!

Curious about the electronica. Back a good 15 years ago when everyone around me was clubbing to the 90s house hits, it always puzzled me why a constant 130 bpm thumper would lull me to sleep with iced tea in hand in our booth, while everyone else boogied the night away. Turns out that doing the math will reveal a very low delta frequency pattern (~3hz) was the result, and even without dancing and inducing fatigue upon myself, the consistent beat of the electric boogaloo was actually putting me to sleep once I got properly latched. And it often did: the bass was heavy enough to act like tactile stimulation (patting a baby's back to sleep, etc), while both the lighting and audible rhythm also promoted stronger entrainment.

Sure enough many scientists sense a remarkable affinity transcendence amidst the truth of physics, although from many walks of life and traditions of belief, myself personally knowing astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross Ph.D, and being very fond of his studies and journey of faith.

Doog wrote:Had a quick blast but didn't want to fall asleep at the desk, hahaha. Sounds good from what I heard, gotta love the brain-wobblies; will more than likely pick up the paid-for version.

I've got a fair bit of experience with relaxation/meditation/visualisation audio from my fun times as anxious wreck a number of years ago, will be very interested to see how this works out for me. I've been creeping back into old (mental) habits this summer and have apparently forgotten how to sleep for more than 5 hours, so fingers crossed!

Good work, Andi!

Bro grabs and good vibes sent across the continents!

Yeah, Dr. Sleep is the last thing you'd want to play at work, but when the time comes it sounds like you'll have no problem latching in to the freqs if you're already an experienced relaxer of sorts, and hope it does your body real good ya. Much appreciated~

When I was younger I kind of had insomnia most of the nights, now that I am close to 30 I find it very easy to fall asleep, or rather hard to stay awake. Do you think however that Dr.Sleep could improve the quality of sleep?
Also, my 1.5yr old son doesnt really like going to bed at night, and it always takes some effort to put him to bed, do you think that I could use it for his sleep, and if yes using what device (he wouldnt use headphones I believe)

In each of the Vita-mind packages I've included a variation on the SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) frequency, which sits and hovers a bit above and around 12hz. Being just a tad above one's normal "rested state" alpha range (10-12hz), it's one of the bands that I use quite regularly in the morning or after lunch, simply because it reduces a lot of brainwave activity that would otherwise make one feel uneasy, depressed, or agitated, and has even been used for kids with ADHD, if they can sit still enough to let the thing work on them. The thing is, the more I get used to SMR sessions it seems to gently help restore a good amount of balance in my waking schedule. Transparent Corp first brought this "sleep balance" benefit of SMR to my attention when I initially bought their Neural Prgrammer, and I've personally found to be rather effective in this regard after a few weeks of use, especially when travelling and need to boost my melatonin supplements with something in "real-time" that isn't a strong cuppa tea.

I don't exclusively use the SMR sessions during my day, but imagine that disciplining oneself to take a good 30 minutes after breakfast and also once in the afternoon or evening would be quite helpful for you. All three packages have similar versions of the SMR track, but the Study Power one in particular has 4 more extra sessions than the other two, some of which relate to better alertness by day, as designed for both students and us office-folk.


As for babies, I wouldn't recommend Dr.Sleep or any other kind of entrainment, based on advice given to us from Transparent Corp's resident Neurofeedback clinician. Babies naturally produce heaps of theta waves (about 4~7hz), and their sleeping and waking patterns are very much independent from us adults is more ways than one. Also, due to the development of the brain, most clinicians feel that external stimuli that isn't both "gentle and human" in origin (the aforementioned back patting, rocking cribs, slowly spinning mobiles, singing, reading) shouldn't be administered in any way, yet I have some daring friends who have tried things out with some very good results, including a former Miss Korea friend of mine who is also a yoga instructor, and pregnant(!): One of our theta-based sleep helps (Dr. Sleep Sleep Help/light version) actually calmed her aggressively kicking baby when she used the session. Granted, as safe as it sounds, I need to stay clear of liability in case something goes wrong with one's pregnancy, so I'm recommending pregnant mothers stay way clear of Vita-mind or any other entrainment products...and would use it only with much caution after consulting a pediatrician if to be tried with younger children.

The other thing is that in the very rare case that a child may have a propensity toward being epileptic, entrainment(especially visual) may trigger something that otherwise would go unnoticed. In the 90s, MC Square in Korea used flashing LED lights that synced with alpha beats and made an absolute mint off of the mysterious little machines, without having to explain anything, something that neurofeedback experts would probably advise against today without a proper examination. Fortunately, audio stimuli is much more gentle, and carries a much lower risk.

Dr. Sleep just hit #2 in the Health and Fitness section this morning!

A big thank you to everyone who downloaded the free version, + bro grabs and super muchos gracias to you guys who downloaded the $1.99 version as well. I'm seriously indebted to you guys and appreciate those who have spread the word...I'm confident that everyone's friends and family who are suffering from insomnia or sleep deprivation can take advantage of the free Dr.Sleep app, and we hope the word continues to get out.