Why do I need headphones?

Because the beat does not exist in the file. It appears only when each ear receives a different tone and the brain reports the difference as a pulse. On speakers both tones reach both ears after mixing in the air, so what you hear is the ordinary acoustic beating of two nearby frequencies, which is a completely different experience.

What does the carrier setting control?

The pitch you actually hear. The two channels are placed either side of it, so a carrier of two hundred hertz with a ten hertz beat writes one hundred and ninety five to the left and two hundred and five to the right. Keep the carrier in the lower part of the range, where the two tones are still heard as one.

Is the effect scientifically established?

The perception of a beat from two tones delivered separately is well documented and easy to demonstrate. Claims about particular mental states following from particular beat frequencies are far less settled, so treat the labelled bands as conventions rather than as results, and treat the file as a low-level background signal.

Can I listen on a phone speaker?

It will play, but the binaural effect will not be there. If speakers are the only option, use the isochronic tone generator instead, which produces an audible pulse in a single signal and therefore survives playback on anything including a single speaker.

Why does the file sound like a single steady tone?

Because that is close to what it is: two steady sines a few hertz apart, with no pulse written into either channel. The wobble you perceive is the difference between them, and it becomes obvious with headphones and almost invisible without.

Binaural Beat Generator

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Binaural Beat Generator writes a slightly different tone into each ear, and the beat you hear exists only in the perception rather than in the file. Headphones are required, because the effect depends on the two channels never mixing in the air.

What is Binaural Beat Generator?

The output is a stereo file where the left channel runs at the carrier minus half the beat frequency and the right channel at the carrier plus half of it. Enter the carrier, the beat, the duration and the level, and generate.

What the controls do:

A carrier from twenty to one thousand hertz, defaulting to two hundred, which is the pitch both ears hear.
A beat frequency from half a hertz to forty, defaulting to ten, with a half-hertz step, which is the difference between the two channels.
A duration from one second to ten minutes, defaulting to sixty, long enough for a listening session.
An amplitude slider from one to one hundred percent, defaulting to seventy.
A readout confirming the exact frequency written to each channel and reminding you that headphones are needed.

Two sines are computed separately, one per channel, at frequencies that differ by exactly the beat value, and the difference is split evenly either side of the carrier so neither ear is favoured. The beat is a perceptual phenomenon rather than a signal: the file contains no ten hertz tone, only two steady tones close enough together that the auditory system reports a slow pulse at their difference. That has an important practical consequence. On speakers the two channels reach each ear at slightly different times and mix acoustically before they arrive, and the effect collapses into an ordinary beat you would hear from any two nearby tones, which is why headphones are not a suggestion here but a requirement. The paired channel frequencies are also the reason the file is genuinely stereo rather than duplicated. Typical practice associates slower beats with relaxed states and faster ones with alertness, and the panel lists the conventional bands as a guide, but the file itself is simply two tones and nothing more. Volume matters more than any of the settings: at a comfortable level the beat is easy to follow, while at a high level the two tones become tiring long before the session ends, which is the practical argument for keeping the amplitude modest and the duration realistic.

What the tool cannot do:

The effect disappears on speakers, or whenever the two channels are mixed to mono.
There is no carrier modulation, so the tones never move in pitch.
No fade at the start or end is applied by this tool, so a long file can click at its boundaries when looped.
The carrier range stops at one thousand hertz, above which the two tones become easier to hear as separate pitches rather than as one.
The beat is fixed for the whole file and cannot ramp or change part way through.
Output is stereo at sixteen bit depth, capped at ten minutes.

Use it for the purpose it exists for: a low-level background signal for relaxation, focus or sleep, played at a comfortable volume through headphones for as long as the session lasts. When the same kind of rhythmic pulse is needed on speakers, the isochronic tone generator achieves it with amplitude modulation instead, and when the pitch itself is the point rather than the beat, the sine wave and tone generators cover steady references.

How to use Binaural Beat Generator

Set the carrier frequency you find comfortable to listen to.
Choose a beat frequency, using the labelled bands as a rough guide rather than a rule.
Set the duration and amplitude for the session you intend.
Generate the file and listen with headphones; the pulse appears in the file only as a difference between channels.

When to use Binaural Beat Generator vs related tools

Binaural Beat Generator produces the headphone-only effect, so it is the right tool when a beat has to be perceived rather than played through speakers. Isochronic Tone Generator achieves a similar rhythmic pulse with amplitude modulation that works on any system. For single steady tones at a chosen frequency, Sine Wave Generator and Solfeggio Frequency Generator are the directly comparable tools.

Privacy & Security

This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.