The use of audio visual stimuli to alter states of consciousness is not new. Audio Visual Entrainment (AVE), is a subset of brainwave entrainment, that uses flashes of lights and pulses of tones to safely and gently guide the brain into various states of brainwave activity. Audio Visual Entrainment devices are often termed light and sound machines or mind machines.

Altering brainwave activity has been show to assist in the management of psychological and physiological disorders. Brainwaves change frequencies based on neural activity within the brain when it processes signals from the sensory receptors such as those of vision, touch, smell, taste and hearing. Each of our senses responds to stimulus from the environment and transmits that information to the brain.

The senses of sight and hearing, by their very nature, provide a favorable means for affecting brainwaves. By presenting pulsed and sequenced audio and visual stimulation to the brain for a short period of time, the brain will begin to resonate or ‘entrain’ or ‘follow’ at the same frequency as the stimulus. This effect is commonly referred to as brainwave entrainment (BWE), or habituation, whereby the body and mind adapt to the stimulus.

Auditory or visual stimulation (AVS) can take a variety of forms, generating different subjective and clinical effects. Audio Visual Entrainment, (AVE) involves organised, repetitive stimulation at a particular frequency for a specific period of time, and the frequency of stimulation is reflected within the electroencephalography EEG.
By increasing the stimulation frequency, cognitive function may be enhanced.

Some of the benefits of AVE include:
– reduces stress and provides deep relaxation
– increases alertness
– reduces hyperactivity
– normalises sleep patterns
– improves memory
– produces peak performance state
– reduces depression and anxiety