Binaural beats: it's now official that they improve the mind!

**LPCF** · 29th August 2012, 04:38 PM

Just today BBC News published details of scientific research showing that piano tuners (who listen daily to binaural beats when tuning "fifths") have a greatly developed hippocampus in the brain. So binaural beats are good for you!

Here's the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19398413

**ButterflyWoman** · 29th August 2012, 05:44 PM

Cool! I knew that meditation did this (it's part of why meditation can help to heal things like stress and panic disorders), and I was very much aware that binaural beats induced meditative states, but piano tuners... who knew? I love it.

But now I can't get that old joke out of my mind: You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish!

**LPCF** · 29th August 2012, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by ButterflyWoman

But now I can't get that old joke out of my mind: You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish!

For anyone who might be interested, pianos are tuned by "tempering" intervals and "stretching" octaves. Careful listening for beats is absolutely essential for a good tuning. Pianos cannot be tuned according to "pure" intervals because of the effect of "harmonics". I know this because in my misspent (?) youth I started to learn to tune pianos but never really got anywhere.

Piano tuners are a skilled bunch - in more ways than one!