These Headphones Changed My Health - and My Life
If someone had told me a year ago that a pair of headphones would change my health - and as a result, my life - I would have rolled my eyes. But that’s what I’m telling you, and I hope you believe me.
One of my favorite things about neuro performance training is that most of the training in and of itself is free (aside from actually working with the trainer); it just requires my body. But every so often, my trainer will recommend I add a tool to my toolbox. One such item is bone conduction headphones.
Bone conduction headphones - a new concept to me - wrap around your ears, with a little piece sitting at the edge where your cheekbone and ear meet. That little piece sends sound waves through your skull instead of through your ear drums. This allows you to hear what you’re listening to without putting tiny speakers inside or on top of your ears.
My trainer introduced me to these headphones during my in-person evaluation. He had just put me through a set of exercises designed to evaluate my vestibular system. The evaluation showed that I had vestibular deficiencies, especially on the left side. Next my trainer, gave me these bone conduction headphones to put on, and after which he turned on a frequency app set to 100 hz at 60 beats per minute (BPM), only in the left ear. I began hearing a low-ish thumping sound. After 15-20 seconds, we redid the exercises that I had flunked. This time, I did MUCH better. The improvement was obvious. You could see it, and I could feel it. WTF?!
I purchased my own bone conduction headphones, and, per my trainer’s guidance, began using the headphones at home. I began listening to the 100 hz, 60 BPM frequency in the left ear using the “f Generator” app while I did vestibular exercises (I’ve shared examples of these vestibular exercises on social media and will share more) and would also listen to the frequency when I was doing other things throughout the day, sometimes while I was just sitting around. I also began using the headphones for all of my headphoning purposes - listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks, and talking on the phone. Quickly, these became the only headphones I use because the improvement in my function was undeniable.
Over time, my trainer has guided me to increase and expand when and how I use these headphones. We’ve progressed to listening not only to 100 hz, but also 500 hz; and while we started out only listening to the frequency in the left ear, now we mix it up - sometimes just the left, sometimes both. At this point, on any given day, I’ll wear my headphones and listen using the f Generator frequency app and alternate between the following:
100 hz, 60 BPM, left ear only
100 hz, 60 BPM, both ears
500 hz, 60 BPM, left ear
500 hz, 60 BPM, both ears
I started out wearing the headphones and listening to frequencies for short periods of time, and have slowly increased. Now, I do so for hours each day. It took time to get to this point!
So what the heck is up with these headphones? Why do they help the vestibular system?
The vestibular system is located in the inner ear. Bone conduction headphones activate the vestibular system by vibrating along the inner ear bones.
Why these frequencies?
As is always the case with science, there’s still lots more to learn about frequencies and how different frequencies impact the body. And I’ll be totally honest - I don’t really understand what’s going on with these frequencies.
Here’s what I do know. Neuro performance training has changed my life. Incorporating use of bone conduction headphones, along with the frequencies listed above, have dramatically improved how I feel and function - vestibular-wise and otherwise (other improvements include improved stability, focus, energy, etc.). Prior to beginning training, I was struggling with POTS and ME/CFS to an extreme degree. Now I’m not. At all.
My trainer has told me that we’ll continue to experiment with frequencies between 40 hz - 800 hz. This range has varying effects on different parts of the nervous system and vestibular system. As I understand it, 100 hz has a more direct impact on the semicircular canals and 500 hz has a more direct impact on the otoliths. The semicircular canals and the otoliths are to very important parts of the vestibular system that can have a tremendous impact on the sorts of symptoms experienced by people with POTS and vertigo and other vestibular/balance-related conditions.
Starting with 100 hz was a good choice for me. I tolerated it well. 100 hz sounds like low-ish thump, whereas 500 hz is higher pitched and a bit more annoying. When I first begin working with my neuro performance trainer, my brain and body were unbelievably sensitive and there’s no way I could have tolerated the 500 hz. It probably would have put my nervous system into a panic spiral. Now that I’ve developed a healthier nervous system overall, I’m not only able to tolerate the 500 hz, but I actually do well with it.
Listening to these frequencies isn’t nothing; it’s can actually be quite a workout for the brain. It’s important to start slowly, and increase use gradually to make sure your body is adjusting well. My trainer shared with me that when he first started playing around with the frequencies, he got excited, overdid his use, and needed to go home and take a nap.
How do I assess if/how the headphones have helped me?
Another one of my favorite aspects of neuro performance training is the assessments and reassessments. These assessments and reassessments allow you - as the person living in your body, and your trainer, if you’re working with one - to assess whether or not an exercise or stimulus is good, bad, or neutral for your brain right now. You and I might have identical symptoms on paper, but that doesn’t make us identical. We have different nervous systems, and different histories that may lead us to need different things. Check out my video on assessments and reassessments to learn how I use these movements to gauge how I’ve responded to an exercise or stimulus.
In addition to using these wonderfully helpful assessments as a guide, learning to be in touch with my body has been incredibly valuable - and also a journey. I don’t need to do a trunk rotation (my favorite assessment) to be able to know intuitively that, for example, listening to a frequency through my bone conduction headphones can improve my focus while I’m working; I can just feel that I’m more focused. I’ve learned to listen to and trust my instincts, and sometimes that’s what guides my understanding of what’s working for me.
*Reminder: I’m not a medical provider or trainer, and nothing I share on this website is medical advice. What I share is based on my experience as a human living in a historically challenging body, and I share so that you can hopefully benefit from my learnings. Remember that every individual is different.