[HN Gopher] Show HN: Phantas - A browser-based binaural strobe e...
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       Show 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?
        
       Author : AphantaZach
       Score  : 10 points
       Date   : 2025-12-28 20:38 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phantas.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phantas.io)
        
       | dvh wrote:
       | ERROR>
       | https://phantas.io/_next/static/chunks/f60f633011df6d3a.js(5...:
       | Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading
       | 'cancel')
        
         | AphantaZach wrote:
         | Good catch. That's an unguarded speechSynthesis call in the
         | cleanup function. likely crashing on browsers that block the
         | Speech API (or in privacy mode).
         | 
         | Just pushed a fix to wrap it in a conditional check. It should
         | be live in ~2 minutes. Thanks for the stack trace!
        
       | aeon_ai wrote:
       | Any evidence supporting "higher performance"?
        
         | AphantaZach wrote:
         | Totally fair question. "Higher performance" is definitely a
         | subjective claim, so I should clarify the mechanism I'm relying
         | on.
         | 
         | The core concept is Photic Driving (the "Frequency Following
         | Response"). There is decent literature (e.g., Herrmann, 2001)
         | showing that the visual cortex effectively synchronizes its
         | firing rate to match high-amplitude external flickers (like a
         | 14Hz strobe).
         | 
         | My goal with this tool is to induce Transient Hypofrontality
         | (down-regulation of the prefrontal cortex), which is often
         | associated with "Flow States" (Dietrich, 2003).
         | 
         | To be clear: I haven't run a clinical trial. I built it to
         | replicate the "Ganzflicker" effects (Reeder, 2021) in a browser
         | environment to help with my own Aphantasia. Subjectively, it
         | helps me clear cognitive noise faster than silence, but I'm
         | releasing it for free to see if that holds true for others or
         | if it's just placebo.
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-28 23:00 UTC)