On the street, the cost of buying drugs can easily exceed more than $100. On the Internet, to the doubt of some Boston University professors, a website claims that all it takes for a high is a few dollars, a mouse click and a pair of headphones.
I-Doser.com sells allegedly lab-developed ‘binaural brainwave doses,’ audiotracks that cause the user to feel certain emotions and hallucinogenic highs. These tracks come in different downloadable media and cost as little as $3. In March, the South Korean government announced that further investigations may lead them to ban any site that sells the ‘doses,’ depending on their findings.
According to the website, paired frequencies create ‘binaural beats’ that cause changes in the user’s state of mind. Although it is possible for a person’s brain state to be influenced by sound, the scientific terms used on the site are questionable, BU cognitive and neural systems professor Barbara Shinn-Cunningham said.
‘They’re trying to invoke science and are trying to use words that sound meaningful,’ Shinn-Cunningham said. ‘But it doesn’t make sense to me as a scientist.’
Daniel Bullock, a professor in Shinn-Cunningham’s department, said the audio tracks could behave like a drug by altering perceptions, but, as with drugs, the experience is based on false reality.
‘There’s a long history of induced illusions,’ he said. ‘Human perception is not physics. Often what is perceived is not there.’
But like Shinn-Cunningham, Bullock says he is ‘very skeptical’ about the site’s scientific claims.
Although professors say it is scientifically unclear how the doses work, hundreds of user reviews on the site say that they do.
When a user accesses a dose, the site recommends that they lie in bed or close their eyes to listen. Users then hear various combinations of hissing and buzzing, interacting tones of different frequencies overlaid in different ears and ambient background sound effects.
Although some users said it very possible that the effects are a placebo, others gave rave reviews. One user, in an anonymous online experience report, called the LSD dose ‘out of this world amazing.’ An alleged former heroin addict said the heroin dose mimicked the good parts of the drug’s high with none of the detrimental effects.
The website says the doses are completely safe. It does warn to treat the audio tracks ‘with the same respects you would a doctor prescribed or recreational drug.’
CAB Health & Recovery Services Director of Clinical Treatment Services Dr. Michael Levy said he is skeptical about the doses’ effectiveness. CAB is substance abuse agency with several detox treatment centers in Massachusetts.
‘I see no research at all,’ Levy said. ‘I would never recommend it [to patients in recovery] at this point.’
Students had mixed feelings about the audio drug doses.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Carrianne Cremmett said friends had tried various doses. Although she said they told her it was effective, she was not so sure.
‘I wouldn’t go out of my way to try it,’ Cremmett said. ‘I’ve heard a couple seconds. It just sounds like fuzziness.’
College of Arts and Sciences junior Hector Oseguera said the doses seemed too much like actual recreational drugs to be sold unchecked.
‘You’re buying drugs,’ Oseguera said. ‘You’re buying something that’s going to alter your mind state and emotional state.’
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