I've been doing research on brainwaive entertainment for a couple weeks. now, i'm an english major so the complex scientific brain stuff is a little elusive and i may be wrong about this but i think dr. jeffrey's music can be effective without headphones or even a soundfield that is around you. here is what i've learned and anyone who wants to correct me in EASY TO UNDERSTAND language please do, i would appreciate it. brainwaive entrainment occurs when two oscillating bodies (left and right side of the brain) synchronize and go in harmony. when using headphones each ear is hearing a slightly different frequency. this is the sensation of binaural beats. the brain integrates the two sounds/frequencies into a third sound= the binaural beat. This audio sensation creates the frequency following brainwave known as delta. when binaural beat music is played over a stereo system the two frequencies mix in the air and become a monaural beat. according to research, monaural beats also produce a frequency following response, though binaural and monaural beats are processed differently in the brain. in fact, the amplitude of the frequency following response for monaural beats is higher than that of binaural beats. but, they (researchers and scientists) aren't sure if this affects effectiveness. regardless of understanding these technical aspects the fact remains that any repeating stimulus- be it light, sound, electricity, vibrations- can entrain brainwaves. so there you have it. it seems quite possible that the monaural beats produced by playing dr. thompson's music without headphones may very well help you fall asleep and stay asleep. perhaps you should experiment and see for yourself.

i bought the two disc delta sleep set about three weeks ago and have been using it ever since. Let me tell you, it works great. although the included pamphlet claims the same brainwave feed is the same on both cds i definately like the first program better. it's just that the music on the second one is kind of creepy and has a hiss in the background that i don't like. one night i was listening to the second cd and as far as i know i was asleep but somewhere toward the end of the second track this weird, loud and abraisive noise scared me awake. i mean it really scared me too. i ripped off the headphones shaking wondering what was in my head. fortunately that only happened once, maybe cause i only listen to the first cd now ;). anyway, the first cd is awesome. before i bought this cd i couldn't go to sleep before two or three in the morning (grad school and other stress had been keeping me up for late for a while). now that i have this cd i pop it in around midnight and in five minutes i'm asleep. and despite the fact that dr. thompson recommends using headphones or a stereo system that surrounds you i have been putting it into my cd clock radio and it still works for me. there's something about it that just gets in your heads and seriously makes you drift right off. very nice floating feeling. love it.

Didn't do anything for me. I tried it for a week straight but ended up listening for 30 minutes and back to watching tv.

Doctor: "Anything else?"
Me: "Yeah, I just can't get to sleep. It takes forever, and I wake up a lot when I do, yada, yada."
Doctor: "Try to listen to some nice, relaxing music before you go to sleep."
Me: "Thanks Doc." To myself: "Fuggetabottit!" How can a professional classical musician listen to "nice, relaxing music?" Already tried. I lie there thinking, ah, more Baroque drivel. I hope they don't take the repeats. If it's piano music, "that's a nice tempo, great voicing, Debussy, betcha it's Michelangeli." I can do this for hours.
Finally a friend set up her guest room with a CD player and the Delta disc. I wanted to be a good house guest, so I put it on. I didn't try to analyze it! I relaxed, and fell asleep. I've studied acoustics, but still have no idea how it gets around my busy little brain and unplugs the damn thing. A miracle.

I have quite a number of relaxation CDs, which usually work well to put me asleep, but the music on these same CDs will invariably wake me up. I put Delta Sleep System on repeat mode and not only does it put me to sleep, but it keeps me asleep. I mean deep, restful, dream-filled, dead to the world sleep. Sometimes I'm so knocked out that I'll wake up in the morning and the headphones are either underneath me or totally wrapped around my head. I've had this CD for about 8 months and I still don't know what the whole CD sounds like.