Skip Atwater: “There is no supposition by The Monroe Institute that SAM entrains or drives brainwave arousal as in the binaural-beat model. We do, however, think that some objective evidence for SAM’s effectiveness in facilitating enhanced states of awareness will be shown in ongoing studies of gamma synchrony as an electrophysiological correlate of conscious awareness.” (TMI Journal 2012 No. 1 — 1 TMI Journal 2012 No. 1.pdf, 2012) James Lane: “I was looking for relaxation effects because my hope was we could use it in clinical settings like patient waiting rooms, where people are under a lot of stress: give them something that they could just use. And I have to admit I learned a lot from the three studies that I conducted, which [were] not really successful in the demonstration of powerful effects of SAM.” (SAM-supported mystical experiences at The Monroe Institute by James Lane, 2018-08-16) James Lane: “What I did was highlight in yellow when the score exceeded 60%, which was the criterion to be part of a complete mystical experience. So you could see, I hope, that out of the 14 people, seven people had a complete mystical experience, that their responses produce scores above that criterion on all four sub scales. And there were several other people who came pretty darn close to having a complete mystical experience, perhaps missing one or two sub scales.” (SAM-supported mystical experiences at The Monroe Institute by James Lane, 2018-08-16)
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Spatial Angle Modulation
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Nancy McMoneagle: “Then we have a program based on our spatial angle modulation audio technology, and the program is called Event Horizon, and this program was designed by Bob Holbrook.” (#16 - Nancy "Scooter" McMoneagle of the Monroe Institute, 2016-02-09) Design claims are not results The 2012 article describes how SAM is built and why its developers expect it to work. It makes strong comparative claims, that SAM acts faster and with more flexibility than other audio methods, but it presents no data. The results Lane reported later were studies that did not show powerful effects and a pilot without controls. Until controlled results are published, treat SAM's advantages as intentions. The audio is one ingredient Atwater himself says SAM is meant to be used with other tools: a darkened room, group conditioning such as affirmation and communion, and a curriculum that teaches skills like breath work and visualization, which is how Institute programs are built. A participant's report from a SAM-supported program therefore cannot be credited to the audio alone. Watch the label and the date
Hemi-Sync, SAM and Monroe Sound Science are different names, and they are sometimes used loosely: Monroe Sound Science is the Institute's umbrella label, and its own page lists SAM as one technique. Descriptions also change over time. The 2012 article describes the first version, the Institute presented version 2.0 in 2013, and its website now uses Monroe Sound Science. Check the date and wording of any source before applying it to a particular recording. Play it as intended The Institute's audio depends on stereo placement. Nancy McMoneagle stresses headsets or earbuds when describing Hemi-Sync listening, and Atwater's article describes SAM as presented over stereo headphones or speakers. Use stereo headphones in a quiet room, follow the program's instructions, and never listen while driving or doing anything that needs your full attention. Treat the physics as a hypothesis The microtubule rationale rests on the Penrose-Hameroff proposal that consciousness involves quantum coherence in neurons, a speculative idea, and the article words it as a supposition and a hypothesis. A theory behind a design is not evidence that the design does what is intended. Judge SAM by what listeners report and what controlled tests eventually show. Health caution