alt Hacker NewsShow HN: Phantas – A browser-based binaural strobe engine (Web Audio API)
Hi HN, I’m a new developer with Aphantasia (no mental imagery).
A side effect of this is that regaining focus after a distraction takes me a long time (the "23-minute lag"). I tried standard binaural beats, but I discovered a technical flaw: streaming compression (AAC/MP3 on Spotify/YouTube) often muddies the specific phase differences required for effective entrainment.
I realized that to get effective entrainment, I needed lossless audio. Since I couldn't stream lossless easily, I decided to generate it locally. I built Phantas – a browser engine that uses the Web Audio API to generate raw sine waves in real-time on the client side. This ensures mathematical precision with zero compression artifacts.
For audio it uses Native AudioContext for dual-oscillator generation (Left/Right channel split).
For visuals I pair the audio with a 490nm Cyan strobe. The hardest part was syncing the visual flash (using requestAnimationFrame) to the audio pulse without "drift" caused by JavaScript's event loop latency.
I built this primarily for myself. Subjectively, it has reduced my "ramp-up" time from ~20 minutes to about 5 minutes.
I’m releasing the generator for free (no login) to see if this works for others or if it's just my specific brain chemistry. I’d love feedback on:
- Audio/Visual Sync: Does the strobe feel tight on your specific browser/refresh rate?
- Intensity: Are the default 14Hz flickers too aggressive?
Comments
It looks like a fun toy and i don't mean to disrespect but isn't this kind of a snake oil that's bordrline with placebo?
I mean, strobing light at specific hz will definitely have some effect on increased hz activity in your brain somewhat, and perhaps even relax me, but whether would that translate to "deep work" or just flshing light in my face would vary from person to person. And the gained benefits would be probably very dimnishing (like the whole "premium bineural beats" scams)
Plus the "unlock pro for targeted emotional regulation" souns veeeeery far fetched and fishy.
But if it gets popular i'm pretty sure some people would buy it (hell, people buy "good energy stones for good aura" to protect from reptilians or something)
Apologies to anyone who got flash-banged by the white screen earlier. I pushed a hotfix that accidentally nuked my Tailwind config and the animation engine. The site should be fully restored now. Thanks for your patience.
ERROR> https://phantas.io/_next/static/chunks/f60f633011df6d3a.js(5...: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'cancel')