The origin of BrainTap is rooted not in a single breakthrough moment, but in a lifetime of immersion in brain science, sound, and human potential. As Dr. Patrick Porter explains, “I was brought up… my dad was a Silva Method instructor,” exposing him early to meditation practices that used sound frequencies to synchronize brainwaves into alpha states associated with heightened memory and accelerated learning. Isochronic tones, galvanic skin response machines, and early biofeedback tools were not novelties in his world—they were foundational. That early exposure planted a question that would follow him for decades: if the brain could be guided into optimal states through frequency and rhythm, why wasn’t this being used more broadly to support health, learning, and resilience?
Dr. Porter’s career unfolded alongside the evolution of neuroscience itself. He recalls how, in the 1980s, “we thought the brain was solid, it couldn’t be changed,” long before neuroplasticity entered mainstream science. Even so, he was already experimenting, launching one of the first personal light-and-sound machines in 1989. “We got best new gadget of the year at the electronics show,” he says, “but nobody knew what it was. We were really ahead of our time.” That early company eventually moved into medical and addiction-recovery settings, but after selling it in the early 2000s, Porter believed he was stepping away. “I was semi-retired… but I guess the universe wasn’t done with me yet.”
The true catalyst for BrainTap emerged not from technology, but from urgency. Working with autistic children reshaped Dr. Porter’s focus and clarified the mission. “Back then it was one in 25 male kids. Now it’s one in 43.
It just keeps getting worse,” he says, pointing to lifestyle factors such as food, stress, lack of movement, and environmental overload. Traditional verbal therapies were often ineffective. “They can’t understand me,” he initially thought—until experience proved otherwise. “I found out later they do understand you… just not in the way we’re trying to communicate.”
Instead of words, Dr. Porter turned to what he calls the universal language. “The universe speaks in light, sound, and vibration,” he explains. Drawing from neuroscience, mirror neuron theory, and ancient practices like acupuncture, he began experimenting with delivering frequencies directly through the eyes and ears. “You don’t only see with your eyes,” he says. “Every cell has the capacity to sense, feel, and imagine.” The insight to add light into the ears—alongside sound and visual stimulation—became a defining feature of BrainTap, grounded in the understanding that “all the blood in your body goes through your ears every three to four minutes and goes directly into the brain.”
By Angelina Cappiello
“When you were born,
you had the best brain you were ever going to have. And your brain has the ability to be that again.”
—Dr. Patrick Porter
What followed was not theory, but measurable change. In studies with autistic children, Dr. Porter observed dramatic shifts in brainwave activity. “Most of them had little or no alpha,” he explains. “Within six weeks, we got them to 23% of their brain in alpha.” Even more striking were the functional outcomes. “Ninety percent of them began to speak with no speech training.” For Dr. Porter, this reinforced a central belief: “The reality is that our body knows what to do.”
This philosophy extends beyond autism into a broader critique of modern healthcare. Dr. Porter draws a sharp distinction between treatment and prevention. “We have a sick care system and we have a health care system,” he says. “We’re part of the healthcare system. They’re part of the sick care system.” In his view, medicine often waits for breakdown instead of supporting regulation. “You have to get bad enough for them to help you,” he notes, citing dementia patients told they’re “not quite bad enough yet.”
At the core of BrainTap’s approach is nervous system regulation. Dr. Porter is unequivocal: “You can’t be in a physiological state of stress and learn. You can’t be in a physiological state of stress and heal.” This is why attempts at meditation often fail for people under chronic stress. Lab measurements showed that when many people simply closed their eyes, “30% of their brain goes dormant,” allowing negative self-talk and anxiety to intensify. “We have to change the physiology before we can change the psychology,” he says.
BrainTap does this by guiding the brain into specific states using pulsed light, sound, and vibration. “We’re bringing energy to the brain,” Dr. Porter explains. Through photobiomodulation, light stimulates mitochondrial function. “If it can get there before that cell dies… that mitochondria resets and the Krebs cycle starts.” The result is exponential energy production. “Every time that hand of the clock spins around, it spits out 32 ATP molecules. That’s what light energy does.”
Underlying this is a broader view of human biology as energetic and adaptive. Dr. Porter points to epigenetics and emerging research showing that physiology is constantly changing. “You change every 40 seconds,” he says. “You are not the same person that started this interview.” Yet most people remain trapped by repetitive thought patterns. “You have a tape loop of about 5,000 words that plays in your head all the time,” he explains. “Ninety percent of them are the same as yesterday, and 80% are negative.”
BrainTap interrupts that loop. By downregulating the nervous system and engaging the parasympathetic response—particularly through stimulation of the vagus nerve in the ear canal—it creates the conditions for new patterns to emerge. Over time, users begin to internalize new language and beliefs. Dr. Porter notices it immediately. “They start regurgitating what they’ve heard in the sessions… ‘Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better.'”
Sleep, another cornerstone of health, is where many users feel the impact first. Dr. Porter notes that most people confuse time in bed with restorative sleep. “Research shows you need six and a half to seven hours,” he says, “but you need one hour of deep sleep and two hours of REM.” In studies with coal miners spending ten hours in bed, participants averaged “one minute of deep sleep.” BrainTap sessions designed for sleep help initiate the neurological conditions required for detoxification and repair. “Only during level four sleep does the glymphatic system open up,” Dr. Porter explains. “That’s when the brain detoxes.”
The system is designed to integrate into daily life, not disrupt it. Morning sessions activate the brain gently without triggering stress hormones. “Most people wake up to an alarm clock,” Dr. Porter says, describing the cortisol and blood sugar spikes that follow. “This is very damaging to the body.” Afternoon sessions act as a reset. In workplace studies, participants who used BrainTap mid-day completed “26% more work” than those who didn’t. “We beat a four-hour nap,” he adds.
Ultimately, Dr. Porter sees BrainTap as a response to a global problem. “We’re all under stress,” he says.
“We need a technology that can be scaled across the world.” His perspective is neither anti-medicine nor utopian. Instead, it’s grounded in biology, measurement, and lived experience. “It works for you,” he tells skeptics. “Nobody can change your mind. You change your mind.”
For Dr. Porter, the mission remains deeply personal. “When you were born, you had the best brain you were ever going to have,” he says. “And your brain has the ability to be that again.”
BrainTap, in his view, is not about becoming something new, but about restoring access to what was always there—clarity, regulation, and the innate intelligence of the human system. To learn more or to start retraining your brain, visit www.Braintap.com
Patrick Porter, PhD is a pioneering neuroscientist, author, and founder of BrainTap, a brain fitness system designed to support nervous system regulation, cognitive performance, and restorative sleep. With more than three decades of experience in applied neuroscience, sound, and light therapy, Dr. Porter has worked extensively in clinical, corporate, and performance settings. His research-driven approach focuses on optimizing brain function by addressing physiology first—helping the brain return to its natural state of balance, resilience, and clarity.
Follow Dr. Patrick Porter on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/drpatrickporter