How did you go to sleep last night? Do you remember any sound you heard that was around you? Some of you may have fallen asleep while listening to sleep inducing sound on YouTube. Some of you may have fallen asleep while listening to the sound of a car passing in the distance. It may not be the same for everyone, but in today's world where most of us are living in cities, only a few seem to fall asleep in a quiet, soundless environment. Indeed, 'sound' has always been with our 'sleep'.
How will those sounds affect our sleep? Will they actually help us fall asleep? Surprisingly, we don't know much about the scientific causal link if most sounds actually help us sleep. And it’s also true for many sleep music, because there is no sufficient evidence or controlled trials. In this 'smart' world where so many technologies for humans are so easily accessible, this is quite surprising.
The Miracle Night team has been researching for the past two years to develop scientifically effective sleep inducing sounds. And finally, we have developed a 'scientific' sleep sound that is 'easy' to approach. Miracle Night's 'Layered monaural beat'. Here's what it is and how it induces sleep effectively.
Brainwaves, EEG, is an electrical signal generated during nerve activity between neurons. Your brain produces 5 different types of brain waves: gamma (30-100 Hz), beta (12-30 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), and delta (0.5-4 Hz) waves. Among them, we usually produce low wavelengths ranging from delta to alpha waves when we sleep. And here’s an interesting fact. Brain waves tend to be induced in a specific frequency when you hear the sound in a 'specific rhythm'. This is called brainwave entrainment. And this is the core idea of Miracle Night.
As mentioned above, 'brainwave entrainment' refers to a phenomenon in which brain waves are synchronized to a specific frequency. There are many synchronicities, but Miracle Night paid attention to how it occurs when we 'sleep'. Simply put, if you synchronize your brainwaves to a lower range of wavelengths, such as delta, your brain will generate electrical signals at a lower rate to induce deep sleep. And this phenomenon has been tested and proven by many scientists for over 60 years now.
And Miracle Night found an example of this process of synchronization in a paper examining the relationship between brainwave entrainment and sleep. This study1) found that the sleep quality of subjects improved when brainwave entrainment was used. Other studies have demonstrated that brainwave entrainment can be used as a treatment for insomnia2), and that it can also contribute to entry to sleep state (sleep induction)3).
However, brainwaves do not occur simply by listening to 'sound waves of specific frequency'. In order for brainwaves to be synchronized, you need to hear a combination of sound waves which occur corresponding to the rhythm of that specific frequency. Thus, Miracle Night created combinations that use monaural beats to induce brainwaves at lower wavelengths.
There are three major combinations of sound waves that induce brainwaves effectively . And they are 'monaural beats', 'binaural beats' and 'isochronic’ tones. Since the advantages and disadvantages of sound wave combinations are clear, these combinations are used in the most suitable and respective situations.
Binaural beats work by hearing different frequencies with both ears. Thus, you have to be wearing earphones on both sides of your ears, but it is a known fact that prolonged use of earphones while sleeping is bad for the ears. Isochronic tones are not suitable for sleeping sounds because the sound itself is pretty heterogeneous. Therefore, Miracle Night chose relatively comfortable without the aid of additional gear and sound effective sound, the monaural beats.
And here, Miracle Night went one step further. By providing the best monaural beats, our team wanted to deliver the most effective and valuable sounds that can induce sleep. Miracle Night has gone through several experiments and clinical trials to find the most effective way to induce brainwaves to sleep, in cooperation with the Institute of Applied Brain and Cognitive Science of Yonsei University. In this process, we found this monaural beats mixing algorithm that is far more powerful and effective than normal monaural beats. And for these mixed monaural beats, we decided to call them 'layered monaural beats'.
How can these layered monaural beats help you sleep better? Through an experiment in which several variables were well controlled, the team demonstrated that subjects' delta waves increased by about 18% on average when they heard the sound. And one subject even experienced increase in delta waves for about 28% or more in just 5 minutes. This algorithm was patented as an algorithm exclusively developed by Miracle Night as well. And these layered monaural beats are only available in the Miracle Night app.
We truly hope this long article conveyed a little bit of Miracle Night's sincerity and efforts to solve your sleep problems. Miracle Night is the best team of medical doctors and experienced engineers, and as we all have experienced insomnia, we understand how serious it can be. And we made a vow that we wouldn't stop until we solve everyone’s insomnia with our technology. We will be responsible to make good sleep, easier for everyone.
For a person like you who read through this article up to here, we sincerely hope that you can spend a more valuable night, and tomorrow with the best sleep through Miracle Night, when you just can’t sleep.