Devices called electroencephalographs (EEGs) measure the electrical impulses in the brain. Although EEG measurements cannot clearly discern spatial patterns, they resolve the dominant frequencies of brainwave activity that are associated with conscious states including concentration, anxiety and sleep.

Turow said:
There is a growing body of neuroscientists who support the theory that if
there’s a physical correlate of conscious experience, it has to be happening
in the brainwaves. It seems to be the only thing in your head that changes
rapidly enough to explain real-time changes in consciousness

Music with a strong beat stimulates the brain and ultimately causes brainwaves to resonate in time with the rhythm, research has shown. Slow beats encourage the slow brainwaves that are associated with hypnotic or meditative states.  Faster beats may encourage more alert and concentrated thinking.

Studies of rhythms and the brain have shown that a combination of rhythmic light and sound stimulation has the greatest effect on brainwave frequency, although sound alone can change brain activity. This helps explain the significance of rhythmic sound in religious ceremonies.

It’s too easy to forget how fundamental rhythm is in so many things and
how important musical rhythm can be

As said by symposium participant Patrick Suppes, the Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Stanford, who studies brainwaves and language cognition.

Harold Russell, a clinical psychologist and adjunct research professor in the Department of Gerontology and Health Promotion at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, used rhythmic light and sound stimulation to treat ADD (attention deficit disorder) in elementary and middle school boys. His studies found that rhythmic stimuli that sped up brainwaves in subjects increased concentration in ways similar to ADD medications such as Ritalin and Adderall. Following a series of 20-minute treatment sessions administered over several months, the children made lasting gains in concentration and performance on IQ tests and had a notable reduction in behavioural problems compared to the control group, Russell said.

“For most of us, the brain is locked into a particular level of functioning,” the psychologist said. “If we ultimately speed up or slow down the brainwave activity, then it becomes much easier for the brain to shift its speed as needed.”

Russell, whose study was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and included 40 experimental subjects, hopes to earn approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use the brainwave entrainment device as a treatment for ADD. The device
uses an EEG to read brainwaves and then presents rhythmic light and sound stimuli through special eyeglasses and headphones at a slightly higher frequency than the brain’s natural rhythm.

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